Processed X-ray of Modigliani's Portrait of a Girl (1917)

Beneath Amedeo Modigliani’s (1884–1920), Portrait of a Girl (1917) hides a secret figure of a woman that Tate researchers have suggested is of Modigliani's ex-lover Beatrice Hastings. The couple had a tempestuous relationship that ended in 1916. The Portrait of a Girl was completed afterwards in 1917, with the timing suggesting that Modigliani may have painted over his former lover. Whilst Modigliani's Portrait of a Girl (1917) was titled 'Mademoiselle Victoria' in a catalogue for an exhibition at the Lefevre Gallery in 1929, the identity of the model remains uncertain. The Portrait of a Girl (1917) is currently held at the Tate in London. In 2018 it was reported that x-rays from the Modigliani Technical Research Study from 2017 to 2018, had uncovered an earlier painting of a figure hidden beneath Amedeo Modigliani's 1917 Portrait of a Girl.The study was performed in preparation for the exhibition Modigliani held at the Tate Modern from 23rd November 2017 to 2nd April 2018. As part of development of our 3D printed Beatrice Hastings NeoMaster, we processed the x-ray of Modigliani's Portrait of a Girl (1917) to separate the exterior and interior pieces, leaving only the trace of the hidden interior piece, revealing the outline of the hidden figure. Subsequently edge detection, AI stylisation, heightmap generation, and 3D printing were performed to generate lost work. Whilst there exists a range of possibilities as to the original underlying work given the captured x-ray, this Research and Development piece is released as a set 8 editions.