Amedeo modigliani portrait of diego rivera biography

Amedeo Modigliani was an Italian modern artist; a painter and sculptor known for his simplified and elongated forms.

Family and early life

Modigliani was born into a Jewish family in Livorno, Italy.

A port city, Livorno had long served as a refuge for those persecuted for their religion, and was home to a large Jewish community. His maternal great-great-grandfather, Solomon Garsin, had immigrated to Livorno in the 18th century as a refugee.

Amedeo modigliani portrait of diego rivera biography

Modigliani's mother (Eugénie Garsin), who was born and grew up in Marseille, was descended from an intellectual, scholarly family of Sephardic Jews, generations of whom had resided along the Mediterranean coastline.

Her ancestors were learned people, fluent in many languages, known authorities on sacred Jewish texts, and founders of a school of Talmudic studies. Family legend traced the Garsins' lineage to the 17th-century Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza.

The family business was b