Jacques Villon, L' Italienne, Modigliani, Etching

Note: Modigliani made no prints himself. The only large-scale Modigliani colour print which exists which is not a simple reproduction is this colour aquatint made by Jacques Villon. In the mid 1920's Villon, whose own prints were already widely admired and collected, was commissioned by the dealer Bernheim-Jeune to make a series of interpretative colour etchingsbased on paintings both by the great Impressionists, such as Manet, Cezanne and Renoir, and also by other major painters of his period, many of whom were his friends, such as Picasso, Bonnard. Matisse and Dufy. Villon had known Modigliani in the years between 1910 and his death in 1920, and his empathy with his work is very apparent in this aquatint derived from the famous painting 'L'Italienne'. This aquatint was first issued by Bernheim-Jeune in 1927/28. The first edition was 200 impressions, signed with a stamp signature authorised by Modigliani's estate, and numbered in pencil.The plate was subsequently deposited with the archive of the Chalcographie du Louvre, who printed a further edition, unsigned and with no numbering and it is from this edition that our present work comes.