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Artwork

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Year:
Theme: Portrait
ID 30 (Ceroni 49)
Lola de Valence
1915
Alternate title: Portrait de femme
Oil on paper mounted on wood panel
20 1/2 x 13 1/4 in. (52.1 x 33.7 cm)
Front, left center: LOL[A]/ DE / VALEN[CE]; lower left: Modigliani
Reverse no longer visible
Creation location: Paris
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Bequest of Miss Adelaide Milton de Groot (1876–1967), 1967. (67.187.84)
Provenance
Galerie Paul Guillaume, Paris (by 1929)1
Domenica Guillaume, Paris, by descent (1934)2
[Valentine Gallery, New York (by 1940)]3
Adelaide Milton de Groot, New York (January 1940)4
[Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, on loan (1952)]5
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, by bequest (1967)6
1. Arthur Pfannstiel, Modigliani: catalogue présumé (Paris: Éditions Marcel Seheur, 1929), 9.
2. Upon the death of the art dealer Paul Guillaume (1891–1934) in October 1934, his widow Domenica Guillaume (1898–1977) inherited his vast collection.
3. "January 1940," no. 2044C, Valentine Dudensing Ledger Books, I.4, p. 152. The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York. Domenica Guillaume consigned this and a number of other works to the Valentine Gallery in New York.
4. Ibid.
5. Confirmed by Mary Chan, Metropolitan Museum of Art, email of February 12, 2026.
6. Metropolitan Museum of Art website.
Commentary

When the Spanish ballet troupe came to Paris in 1862, the artist Édouard Manet (1832–1883) portrayed the dancer Dolores Melea (dates unknown). Her nickname, "Lola de Valencia," became the title of Manet's painting, which famously inspired the poem of the same name by Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867).1 Manet's painting was among the extraordinary works bequeathed to the French state by Count Isaac de Camondo (1851–1911) of Paris. The Camondo collection went on public view at the Louvre in June 1914 and elicited much excitement due to the fact that it included works by living artists, such as Edgar Degas (1834–1917) and Claude Monet (1840–1926).2

Modigliani gave up sculpture and returned to painting in 1914. His earliest works explore an array of styles, ranging from Pointillism to Cubism. He was inspired by the simplified forms of African art that he had access to in the gallery of Paul Guillaume (1891–1934) and the residence of Frank Burty Haviland (1886–1971).3 

Canvas information
A common feature found in several of the artist’s paintings is a frame-like painted border around the composition, which is typically but not consistently black. While this device was likely used for the sizing of the canvas in the absence of a wooden strainer, this work is on paper, so the purpose of the frame in this instance is unclear.4

  1. The poem was first published on an etching of the painting in 1863. Édouard Manet, with poetry by Charles Baudelaire, Lola de Valence (Paris: Cadart et Luquet, 1863). One example can be found at The Art Institute of Chicago, Given in memory of Charles Barnett Goodspeed by Mrs. Charles B. Goodspeed (1947.817).
  2. The bequest was made in 1908 and accepted upon Camondo's death in 1911. Emm. Lefranc, "Au Louvre. – La Collection Camondo," Les Amis de Paris 4, no. 32 (June–July 1914): 120–4. Lola de Valence is illustrated in black and white on page 123.
  3. Adolphe Basler, "Amadeo [sic] Modigliani," Le Crapouillot (August 1927): 14.
  4. For more on the artist's use of painted frames, see Annette King, Nancy Ireson, Simonetta Fraquelli, and Joyce H. Townsend, "An Introduction to Modigliani's Materials and Techniques," The Burlington Magazine CLX (March 2018): 186.
Exhibitions
1938 Paris
Galerie le Niveau, Paris, Modigliani, April 4–30, 1938, no. 7, as Lola de Valence.
1940 New York
Valentine Gallery, New York, Twelve Portraits by Modigliani and a Group of Modern French Paintings, January 8–27, 1940, no. 4, as Lola de Valence.
1958 New York
Perls Galleries, New York, Masterpieces From the Collection of Adelaide Milton de Groot, April 14–May 3, 1958, no. 26, as Lola de Valence, dated 1916, [The painting did not travel to the next venue.] Traveled to: Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Ohio, December 2, 1958.
Published References
Pfannstiel 1929
Pfannstiel, Arthur. Modigliani: catalogue présumé. Paris: Éditions Marcel Seheur, 1929. Monograph, Catalogue p. 9, as Portrait de femme, dated 1914–1915.
Kruse 1940
Kruse, A.Z. "At the Art Galleries: Italian Ultra Modern." Brooklyn Daily Eagle, January 14, 1940, mentioned p. 6, as Lola de Valence.
Jedlicka 1952
Jedlicka, Gotthard. Modigliani: 1884–1920. Erlenbach-Zurich, Switzerland: Eugen Rentsch Verlag, 1952. Monograph, no. 11, ill. in b/w, as Lola de Valence.
San Lazzaro 1953
San Lazzaro, Gualtieri di. Modigliani. Paris: Les Éditions du Chêne, 1953. Monograph, no. 3, ill. in b/w, p. 4, as Lola de Valence.
Pfannstiel 1956
Pfannstiel, Arthur. Modigliani et son œuvre. Paris: Bibliotèque des Arts, 1956. Monograph, no. 49, as Lola de Valence.
Ceroni 1965
Ceroni, Ambrogio. Amedeo Modigliani: Dessins et Sculptures, avec suite du catalogue illustré des peintures. Milan: Edizioni del Milione, 1965. Monograph, no. 161, ill. in b/w, as Lola de Valence.
Ceroni 1970
Ceroni, Ambrogio. I dipinti di Modigliani. Milan: Rizzoli Editore, 1970. Monograph, no. 49, p. 90, ill. in b/w, as Lola de Valence.
Model
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Record last updated March 22, 2026. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Modigliani Initiative. "Lola de Valence, 1915 (ID 30)." In Amedeo Modigliani Digital Catalogue. catalogue.modigliani-initiative.org/catalogue/entry.php?SystemID=4 (accessed on May 11, 2026).