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Artwork

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Year:
Theme: Portrait
ID 19 (Ceroni 248)
La Jeune bonne (The Servant Girl)
c.1918
Alternate titles: Das Dienstmädchen; Giovane bambinaia; La Bonne à Zborowski; La demoiselle du dimanche; La Giovane cameriera; La Jeune Bonne; La jeune bonne (Marie Féret, paysanne de Cagnes); La jeune bonne / The Young Maid; La petite bonne; La petite servante; La servante; La servante (Marie Feret, paysanne de Cagnes); La servetta; Marie Feret; Portrait (?) de femme debout; Servant Girl; The Little Servant-Girl; The Servant; The Servant Girl; The Servant Girl (Marie Feret); The Servant Girl (The Young Maid); The Young Servant
Oil on canvas
60 x 24 in. (152.4 x 60.96 cm)
Front, upper right: Modigliani
Reverse no longer visible
Creation location: Cagnes-sur-Mer
Buffalo AKG Art Museum, New York. Room of Contemporary Art Fund, 1939. (RCA1939:6)
Provenance
Possibly Léopold Zborowski, Paris1
Pierre Bertin, Paris2
Galerie Paul Guillaume, Paris…3
Etienne Bignou, Paris (by spring 1929)4
[Valentine Gallery, New York (by 1930)]5
Etienne Bignou, Paris (by 1939)6
Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York (February 7, 1939)7
1. Bignou, Etienne, ODO 1996-29, XVII Modiliani [sic] - Redon 15. Musée d'Orsay, Paris. An archival photo of this painting in the records of the art dealer Etienne Bignou (1891–1950) notes that the dealer Léopold Zborowski (1889–1932) acquired it from the artist. This is contradicted by the fact that Pfannstiel does not include Zborowski in the provenance of the painting. Arthur Pfannstiel, Modigliani: catalogue présumé (Paris: Éditions Marcel Seheur, 1929), 39.
2. Ibid.
3. Bignou, Etienne, ODO 1996-29, XVII Modiliani [sic] - Redon 15. Musée d'Orsay, Paris. The Bignou photograph confirmed Guillaume's ownership but included no date information.
4. Maud Dale, Modigliani (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1929), no. 18.
5. Bignou consigned the painting to the Valentine Gallery, according to two labels on the reverse: one has the gallery address that predates 1930 and the second has the consignment number: 671C. Image courtesy of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum. Valentine Dudensing (1892–1967) organized the group exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and likely arranged for the painting's inclusion. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Modern French Paintings: An Exhibition of French Paintings of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Exh. cat. (February 16–March 4, 1934), no. 19.
6. Buffalo AKG Art Museum website.
7. Ibid.
Commentary

In March 1918, World War I entered a new phase when the Germans began bombing Paris. The art dealer Léopold Zborowski (1889–1932) made the arrangements for a small group, including Modigliani, Jeanne Hébuterne (1898–1920), and Chaim Soutine (1893–1943), to relocate to the South of France. By April, the group had settled in Cagnes-sur-Mer and in July they moved to Nice. While in the Midi region, due to a dearth of models, Modigliani often painted local townspeople, servants, and children.

The model for this painting has been identified as Marie Féret, who was "a peasant girl from Cagnes" who is believed to have also served as Modigliani's model for Girl in a Sailor's Blouse (Ceroni 249).1 While her name has remarkably been preserved, Féret's identity has not yet been confirmed, but her role as a maid is certain. Nonetheless, Modigliani portrayed her with stature; she stands at full height and the canvas is nearly life-sized. La Jeune bonne is one of only two paintings in his oeuvre to portray the model from head to toe. The other painting, Ceroni 245, depicts a young girl standing in a corner, similar to how the servant girl is posed here.

While the early provenance of the painting is unclear, Pierre Bertin (1891–1984) is on record as one of the first owners.2 An actor and a writer, Bertin helped organize the 1916 Lyre et Palette exhibition in Paris in which Modigliani's paintings were prominently featured. In 1917, Bertin married Marcelle Meyer (1897–1958), the sister of Germaine Meyer (dates unknown); Germaine sat for two portraits by Modigliani in Nice in 1918 (Ceroni 276 and 277). There is a possibility that Bertin acquired La jeune bonne directly from the artist at that time.

Canvas information
This work has a frame-like painted border around the composition, a common feature found in several of the artist’s paintings, which is typically but not consistently black. This device was likely used for the sizing of the canvas in the absence of a wooden strainer.3

  1. Arthur Pfannstiel, Modigliani: catalogue présumé (Paris: Éditions Marcel Seheur, 1929), 39, as La servante (Marie Feret, paysanne de Cagnes). Contradicting this information, however, a photograph of the painting in the Bignou archives noted that the model was a woman named Louise Dermet. Information about Dermet has not yet been located. Amedeo Modigliani, La Jeune Bonne, c. 1918. Bignou Etienne, ODO 1996–29, XVII Modiliani [sic]–Redon, 15. Musée d'Orsay Archives, Paris.
  2. Ibid.
  3. 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
1929a New York probably
Valentine Gallery, New York, Modern French Paintings, March 25–October 1929.
1930 Paris
Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, "Programme": Cent ans de peinture française, June 15–30, 1930, no. 53, ill. in b/w, n.p., as La petite bonne, dated 1918.
1931c New York
Demotte Inc, New York, Amedeo Modigliani, 1884–1920: Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings, November 7–28, 1931, no. 29, ill. in b/w, as La jeune bonne (Marie Féret, paysanne de Cagnes), dated 1919.
1932 London
Alex. Reid & Lefevre Ltd. (The Lefevre Galleries), London, Masterpieces by 20th Century French Painters: "L'Ecole de Paris," January–February 1932, no. 13, as La Jeune Bonne (Marie Féret, paysanne de Cagnes), dated 1919.
1934 Houston
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Modern French Paintings: An Exhibition of French Paintings of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, February 16–March 4, 1934, no. 19, as The Little Servant-Girl.
1938b London
Alex. Reid & Lefevre Ltd. (The Lefevre Galleries), London, The Tragic Painters, June 1938, no. 12, ill. in b/w, as La jeune bonne, dated 1919.
1949a New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Twentieth-Century Italian Art, June 28–September 18, 1949, pl. 46, ill. in b/w, as The Servant, dated 1919.
1951 Cleveland and New York
Cleveland Museum of Art, Modigliani: Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture, January 30–March 18, 1951, unnum., as The Servant Girl (Marie Feret). Traveled to: Museum of Modern Art, New York, April 11–June 10, 1951.
1954 Palm Beach
Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, Florida, Amedeo Modigliani, 1884–1920, January 8–31, 1954, no. 21, as Servant Girl. Traveled to: Lowe Gallery, Coral Gables, Florida, February 11–28, 1954; Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, April 15–May 23, 1954.
Published References
Pfannstiel 1929
Pfannstiel, Arthur. Modigliani: catalogue présumé. Paris: Éditions Marcel Seheur, 1929. Monograph, Catalogue p. 39as La servante (Marie Feret, paysanne de Cagnes); unnum. pl, ill. in color, n.p. (before p. 113), as La servante.
Dale 1929b
Dale, Maud. Modigliani. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1929. Monograph, no. 18, ill. in b/w, as La Jeune Bonne.
Leon-Martin 1930
Leon-Martin, Louis. "Cent ans de peinture française." Paris-Soir, June 20, 1930, ill. in b/w, p. 2, as La petite bonne.
Basler 1931
Basler, Adolphe. Modigliani. Paris: Les Éditions G. Crès et Cie, 1931. Monograph, no. 5, ill. in b/w, as La petite bonne, dated 1915.
Dale 1931
Dale, Maud. "Modigliani." Formes: Revue Internationale des Arts Plastiques (Paris), no. 18 (October 1931), ill. in b/w, n.p., as La jeune bonne / The Young Maid.
The Art News 1931a
"Demotte Holds Modigliani Show." The Art News (New York) 30, no. 6 (November 7, 1931), mentioned p. 7, as La Jeune Bonne.
The Art News 1931b
"'La Jeune Bonne' [reproduction]." The Art News (New York) 30, no. 7 (November 14, 1931), ill. in b/w, p. 6, as La Jeune Bonne.
The Graphic 1932
"To-day and Yesterday: French art of the 20th century now shown in London galleries." The Graphic (London) 135, no. 3240 (January 16, 1932), ill. in b/w, p. 78, as The Young Servant.
Scheiwiller 1935
Scheiwiller, Giovanni. Amedeo Modigliani. Milan: Ulrico Hoepli Editore, 1935. Monograph, pl. XXX, ill. in b/w, as La servetta, dated 1919.
Aprà 1945
Aprà, Nietta. Tormento di Modigliani. Milan: Casa Editrice Bietti, 1945. Monograph, ill. in b/w, n.p., as La servetta, dated 1919.
Apollonio 1950
Apollonio, Umbro. "Vue de l'ensemble sur l'Art italien moderne: Amedeo Modigliani, 1884–1920." Christian Zervos, ed. Cahiers d'Art: Bulletin mensuel d'actualité artistique (Paris) 25 (1950), ill. in b/w, p. 184, as La Jeune Bonne, n.d.
Jedlicka 1952
Jedlicka, Gotthard. Modigliani: 1884–1920. Erlenbach-Zurich, Switzerland: Eugen Rentsch Verlag, 1952. Monograph, no. 26, ill. in b/w, as Das Dienstmädchen, dated 1918.
San Lazzaro 1953
San Lazzaro, Gualtieri di. Modigliani. Paris: Les Éditions du Chêne, 1953. Monograph, no. 45, ill. in b/w, p. 9, as La petite servante.
Pfannstiel 1956
Pfannstiel, Arthur. Modigliani et son œuvre. Paris: Bibliotèque des Arts, 1956. Monograph, no. 244, as La servante (Marie Feret, paysanne de Cagnes), dated 1918.
Ceroni 1958
Ceroni, Ambrogio. Amedeo Modigliani: Peintre. Milan: Edizioni del milione, 1958. Monograph, no. 128, ill. in b/w, as La jeune bonne, dated c. 1917–18.
Roy 1958
Roy, Claude. Modigliani. James Emmons and Stuart Gilbert, trans. New York: Skira, 1958. Monograph, ill. in color, p. 94, as The Servant Girl, dated 1919.
Ceroni 1970
Ceroni, Ambrogio. I dipinti di Modigliani. Milan: Rizzoli Editore, 1970. Monograph, no. 248, p. 101, ill. in b/w, as La Giovane cameriera.
Model
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Record last updated April 10, 2026. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Modigliani Initiative. "La Jeune bonne (The Servant Girl), c.1918 (ID 19)." In Amedeo Modigliani Digital Catalogue. catalogue.modigliani-initiative.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=19 (accessed on May 11, 2026).