Currently not on view
Portrait of a Woman (Beatrice Hastings?) in a Cloche Hat,
ca. 1915
Amedeo Modigliani, 1884–1920; born Livorno, Italy; died Paris, France
x1948-1925
Modigliani’s spare approach to portraiture is evident in the linear purity with which he captured this pensive young woman, whose identity is difficult to establish given her highly stylized facial features. Her principal distinguishing characteristic, apart from the fashionable cloche hat, is the flowery text embroidered across her bodice. The Italian words derive from a Gabriele d’Annunzio poem about an adulterous Renaissance princess who was murdered by her husband. Given Modigliani’s tempestuous and jealousy-fueled relationship with the poet and critic Beatrice Hastings, it is tempting to read the embedded epigraph as a veiled dedication to her.
Information
Title
Portrait of a Woman (Beatrice Hastings?) in a Cloche Hat
Dates
ca. 1915
Maker
Medium
Graphite
Dimensions
33.3 × 25.8 cm (13 1/8 × 10 3/16 in.)
frame: 55.9 × 43.3 × 2.5 cm (22 × 17 1/16 × 1 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Dan Fellows Platt, Class of 1895
Object Number
x1948-1925
Inscription
Inscribed, lower part: Sventura volle | che in Donna di | sì Grande Animo e di sì Ornato |Sapere | Ardesse uno ismisurato | Fuoco | di Desideri | Insani
(Translation: Misfortune willed that in a Woman of such Great Spirit and Refined Wisdom Burned an immense Fire of Insane Passions).
Culture
Type
Materials
Subject
- Franco Russoli, Amedeo Modigliani: Zeichnungen und Aquarelle, (Stuttgart: Hatje, 1969)., no. 84 (illus.)
- Franco Russoli, Modigliani drawings, (London: Thames & Hudson, 1969)., no. 84 (illus.)
- J. Lanthemann, Modigliani, 1884-1920, catalogue raisonné; sa vie, son oeuvre complet, son art, (Barcelona: Gráficas Condal, 1970)., p. 151; p. 368, no. 917
- Felton Gibbons, Catalogue of Italian Drawings in The Art Museum, Princeton University, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1977)., Vol. 1: p. 137, no. 443 (illustrated in Vol. 2 under the same catalog number)
- Amedeo Modigliani: 1884-1920: 26 mars-28 juin 1981, Musée d'art moderne de la ville de Paris, XXe anniversaire, (Paris: Musée d'art moderne de la ville de Paris, 1981)., no. 166 (illus.)
- Osvaldo Patani, Amedeo Modigliani, catalogo generale, (Milan: Leonardo, 1991-1994)., p. 81 (illus.), no. 91
- Laura Giles, Lia Markey, Claire Van Cleave, et. al., Italian Master Drawings from the Princeton University Art Museum, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2014)., p. 138, cat. no. 56 (illus.); p. 228, app. no. 9 (illus.)
