Amedeo Modigliani

Italian, 1884-1920

La Jeune bonne (The Servant Girl), ca. 1918

oil on canvas

support: 60 x 24 inches (152.4 x 60.96 cm); framed: 68 3/4 x 32 1/4 x 4 inches (174.63 x 81.91 x 10.16 cm)

Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York

Room of Contemporary Art Fund, 1939

RCA1939:6

Collection Highlight

More Details

Inscriptions

signature, undated / upper right / Modigliani

Provenance

collection Pierre Bertin, Paris;
collection Paul Guillaume;
by 1929, collection Étienne Bignou;
Bignou Gallery;
sold to the Albright Art Gallery, February 7, 1939

Class

Paintings

Work Type

Oil painting

Information may change due to ongoing research.Glossary of Terms

Between 1915 and 1920, Amedeo Modigliani executed many portraits in a style characterized by sparse settings and figures rendered with elongated bodies, oval heads, and seemingly blank eyes. The subject of this painting is said to be Marie Feret, a country girl from the south of France, and everything about the composition underscores a servant’s role—from her clothing to diminutive stance. However, there is a certain dignity to the figure, which Modigliani achieved through the use of color and line to unify the composition.

Label from Picasso: The Artist and His Models, November 5, 2016–February 19, 2017