Beatrice Hastings

Background

Amedeo Modigliani’s ‘Portrait of a Girl’ (1917) is currently held in the Tate Modern, London, but hidden beneath the painting is the figure of a woman that researchers have concluded is Modigliani’s ex-lover, Beatrice Hastings.

The couple had a tumultuous relationship ending in 1916. One year after their breakup, ‘Portrait of a Girl’ was completed. The timing suggests that Modigliani intentionally painted over his past girlfriend. Modigliani’s ‘Portrait of a Girl’ was titled ‘Mademoiselle Victoria’ at the 1929 exhibition held at the Lefevre Gallery, but the identity of the model remains uncertain.

Method

Using spectroscopic imaging, artificial intelligence, and 3D printing, Oxia Palus actualised the pentimento (the visible trace of an earlier painting) of Modigliani’s ‘Portrait of a Girl’ (1917). Using a processed x-ray fluorescence image and a conditional GAN model Oxia Palus reconstructed a lost masterpiece: Modigliani’s ‘Beatrice Hastings’, the World’s Second NeoMaster.

Specifications

Exhibition: Deeep™ Prequel, Lebenson Gallery, London, 2021.

Press: The Guardian, The Times

Dimensions: 67 x 80.6 cm. 

Medium: 3D print on canvas.