Description
Portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne V, also known as Jeanne Hébuterne with a Large Hat, is an oil on canvas painted by Amedeo Modigliani in 1918; the original measures 55 × 38 cm and is privately held. It shows Jeanne Hébuterne, the painter’s partner and a painter herself, seated slightly side-on beneath an enormous straw hat. Our canvas painting is a hand-painted copy of that work: an academy-trained painter makes it in oils on cotton canvas, in eight sizes from 38 × 55 cm to 120 × 170 cm or in a measurement you give us, and before dispatch we photograph it and send you the photograph for approval.
| Title: | Portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne V |
| Other titles: | Jeanne Hébuterne au grand chapeau · Jeanne Hébuterne con cappello · Jeanne Hébuterne mit großem Hut |
| Painter: | Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920) |
| Year: | 1918, signed upper right |
| Original size (height × width): | 55 × 38 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Style: | Modern art, École de Paris |
| Location: | Private collection – record of the work (no accession number) |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted oil on canvas, eight sizes from 38 × 55 cm to 120 × 170 cm, made to measure on request |
Portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne V – Amedeo Modigliani
Who is the sitter?
Jeanne Hébuterne, born in 1898, a painter and art student who met Modigliani in Paris in 1917 and stayed with him to the end. Mother of their daughter, she died in January 1920, two days after the painter, aged twenty-one. He painted her about twenty-five times, more often than anyone else. This portrait belongs to the early part of that run, when the relationship was only a year old, and it is the most light-hearted of them all: the woman under the enormous hat is not posing, she is almost joking. That is what separates it from the later, quieter portraits of the same person.
What is on the canvas?
The woman sits slightly side-on, the index finger of her right hand raised to her chin, the elbow resting on a dark plane at lower right. Above all of it sits an enormous straw hat with a black crown, taking up nearly the whole top third of the canvas and giving the work its more familiar second name. The face is elongated and pale, the eyes blue and without pupils, the mouth small and red. The hair shows beneath the hat only as two dark strands at the sides. The ground is a warm orange-red, smooth, with no objects to say where we are. The signature is upper right. The canvas is small, but because of the hat the work reads as considerably larger than it is — one of the rare cases in Modigliani where a piece of clothing takes over the composition.
Why does this work matter?
Because it shows Modigliani in a rare mood. His portraits are mostly serious and reserved; here the gesture of the finger at the chin is almost playful, and the hat is painted with visible pleasure. Behind the form stand his years as a sculptor — the long neck, the oval face, the eyes as flat areas — and in colour a post-impressionist painting of Cézanne’s kind, in which a head is built from planes and not from details. In Paris Modigliani belonged to the circle of immigrant painters we now call the École de Paris, and there the portrait was a central task. Small canvases like this were made quickly and for the moment; that they are collectors’ pieces today is a reversal the painter did not live to see.
What does the work mean?
It means the portrait of someone the painter knows well. A commissioned portrait has to show rank or trade; here there is nothing of the kind, only the person and the hat. That is exactly why it reads as familiar: not an introduction but a scene from a shared life. Modigliani’s eyes without pupils are often read as mystery, but here they work differently — as though the sitter needed no gaze in order to be present. If you want one thought to take away: the portrait that explains nothing says the most.
Is this the same portrait as Portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne I?
No. We carry six numbered portraits of Jeanne Hébuterne, because Modigliani painted many and because most have no settled English title; the number is our marking, not the painter’s. This fifth one is the only one with the large hat, and that is the easiest way to tell it apart. See also Portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne I, Portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne II, Portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne III, Portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne IV and Portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne VI. The full selection is in the Amedeo Modigliani gallery, and about the painter we have written a longer article. An Italian encyclopaedia entry on this work is available away from our pages.
How is our hand-painted version made?
The work is made by an academy-trained painter in oils on cotton canvas, stretched over a wooden frame. It is not a print: every stroke is laid on by hand, so your canvas always differs a little from our reference in brushwork and in the thickness of the paint. The first photograph on this page is our hand-painted canvas, taken in the studio — not the original, but the article you receive. The painter begins with the orange-red ground, because that decides how pale the skin will look, then paints the hat as a whole, and only at the end the face. The order matters: if the face came first, the large area of the hat would push it back afterwards. Once the paint is dry we photograph the work and send you the photograph for approval.
Which size for which wall?
For most homes 60 × 90 cm is the right choice. What is particular about this work is the smallest size: 38 × 55 cm is exactly the size of the original, so you receive a canvas at one to one — sensible on a shelf, above a desk, or on a narrow hallway wall where it is seen close up. The middle sizes, 50 × 70 and 80 × 110 cm, go above a chest of drawers or in a bedroom. The large ones, 80 × 120, 90 × 130, 100 × 150 and 120 × 170 cm, ask for an empty wall and distance; at those sizes the hat is larger than life and the work becomes the main object in the room. The format is upright and carries a narrow, tall wall well, beside a door or between two windows. The warm orange-red ground is the only strong colour in the work and asks for no strong wall colour.
Custom size, stretcher bar and frame
If your wall calls for a measurement not on the list, we will make it. Give us height and width in centimetres; we check whether the ratio carries the crop of the original and tell you what changes at the edges — with this subject it shows first above the hat, which in the original already nearly touches the top. You can choose whether we send it stretched on a wooden stretcher or rolled in a tube. For this work, besides the unframed version, a frame from our range is available, so you can receive it ready to hang. With placement we help by visualisation, setting the work into a photograph of your wall before you buy. If you are looking for a work we do not carry, see paintings made by order.
Delivery and guarantee
We deliver across Europe to your address, the canvas held away from the outer wall of the packaging. Making time depends on the size and on how busy the studio is; we give an estimate when you order and tell you if it changes. We stand behind workmanship and material: if the work arrives damaged or does not match the photograph you approved, we put it right or repaint it at our cost. Because you see it photographed before dispatch, most questions are settled before the parcel leaves.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original?
In a private collection. As the work is not in a public museum it has no accession number, and we give none.
Who was the woman shown?
Jeanne Hébuterne, a painter and Modigliani’s partner, mother of their daughter. She died in January 1920, two days after him.
Is Jeanne Hébuterne with a Large Hat the same work?
Yes. That is the more familiar name of this same canvas; in French it is given as Jeanne Hébuterne au grand chapeau.
Is this a print?
No. Every canvas is painted by hand, in oils. We print nothing.
Which size should I choose?
If you cannot decide, 60 × 90 cm. For a shelf or a desk, 38 × 55 cm, the size of the original; above a chest of drawers, 80 × 110 cm.
Can I have a size that is not listed?
You can. Give us height and width in centimetres; we explain first how it affects the crop.
How is it delivered?
Stretched and ready to hang, or rolled in a tube, in protective packaging.
What is it about, in one sentence?
That the most personal portrait is made between two people and not for a third.
Is the original for sale and what is it worth?
We neither sell nor value the original. It is privately held and not on the market.
How high should I hang it?
The centre about 145 cm above the floor. At the smallest size the work sits better where you pass close to it.
Is it suitable as a gift?
It is. Among Modigliani’s portraits this is one of the friendliest, and the smallest size is that of the original — a gift explained in one sentence.
- Subject: Jeanne Hébuterne beneath an enormous straw hat, index finger at the chin, eyes without pupils, warm orange-red ground
- Original: 55 × 38 cm, oil on canvas, 1918, private collection, no accession number
- Ours: hand-painted oil on canvas, eight sizes from 38 × 55 to 120 × 170 cm; the smallest is one to one with the original
- Worth knowing: the hat takes up nearly a third of the canvas and is why a small work reads as much larger than it is
