Amedeo Modigliani
Sitting Nude with Crossed Hands
c. 1917
The Pacific Arts Collection canvas. Sixteen-year-old Alice Prin — Kiki — folded hands below the left knee on a red velvet pillow with a greenish tassel. Painted in the studio on the rue de la Grande Chaumière that Modigliani shared with the British painter C. R. W. Nevinson — a studio art history misplaced for 110 years. The painting at the centre of the entire NVAI project.
Side-by-side · Original + Recreation
Original Painting — Sitting Nude with Crossed Hands, (c.) 1917 — Model/Muse — Alice Prin, age 16
Amedeo Modigliani who died three years later would never know that his vivacious favorite Muse would go on to become the interlocutor of two generations of his peers. Known as Kiki de Montparnasse in 1922 after falling in love with Man Ray, Hemingway wrote the foreword to her memoirs in 1928, one of two in his life. They were rumored to have had a brief affair. Soon after the release of Kiki's Memoirs, she received the second half of her title — Crowned KIKI, "Queen of Montparnasse" in a lavish ceremony that was the talk of Paris. Hemingway wrote: "she dominated the Era of Montparnasse more than Queen Victoria ever dominated the Victorian Era."
Artist Recreation
Above is an oil on canvas recreation of the painting depicting a resemblance of how it will appear after cleaning and minor restoration. The painting (oil on canvas) was painted using the same color palette as Modigliani.
Learn about this painting
Medium
Oil on canvas
Signed lower right in black paint: modigliani
Dimensions
40.5 × 33 cm
Viewing Location
Institut Restellini Analyses Scientifiques, Geneva Freeport, Switzerland (under authentication, Mission Order signed 4 March 2026)
How to proceed
i
Make an offer
Submit a private offer. Sean or Richard responds directly.
ii
Talk to the curator
Schedule a conversation with NVAI’s curatorial team.
iii
Docs package
Full provenance, conservation reports, scientific analyses — sent on signed NDA.
iv
Full provenance
Chain of title, certificates, expert opinions — released by tier upon signed DDNDA.
Literature
- 01Brokerage Agreement — Robert (Bratislava) + Alexander (Bratislava) + Richard Triberg (Pacific Arts Collection) — 4 March 2026
- 02Mission Order — Institut Restellini Analyses Scientifiques, signed by Xavier Pellaud, Geneva Freeport — March 2026
- 03NVAI Update #4 — Institut Restellini Paris: Unveiling Amedeo Modigliani's Sitting Nude w/ Crossed Hand (c.) 1917 — March 2026
- 04Authentication & Analysis Report — Prof. Otto M. Urban (DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague) — 90-day evaluation, 2025
- 05Forensic Report — InsightART (Jiri Lauterkranc) — CERN-derived dual-robotic X-ray microradiography (RToo) — 2022
- 06ARSMensurae forensic analysis — Rome, 2011
- 07ART-Test s.a.s. pigment analysis — Florence, 2014
- 08Prague Municipal Court Appraisal — Modigliani expert, $70M USD, pre-Restellini — 2013
- 09Wildenstein Institute examination — Marc Restellini as curator, two-month review, 2012
- 10Berthe Weill — December 1917 Modigliani Nudes exhibition (closed opening day by Paris police for indecency) — exhibition catalogue entry "Sitting Nude with Crossed Hands"
- 11C. R. W. Nevinson — *An Artist Studio in Montparnasse* — Tate Gallery N04231, presented by H. G. Wells 1927 — Sisley Huddleston letter to New York *Herald Tribune* 24 February 1927 — the documentary trail of the shared studio