Modigliani lover portrait sells for £26.9 mn in London

A portrait by Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani of his lover Jeanne Hebuterne went under the hammer in London on Wednesday for £26.9 million ($42.3 million, 31.2 million euros), AFP reports citing Christie's auction house.The final price for the 1919 portrait, "Jeanne Hebuterne (Au chapeau)" (Jeanne Hebuterne wearing a hat) was well over the pre-sale estimate of between £16 million and £22 million.A Christie's spokeswoman declined to say who had bought the painting, which shows Modigliani's French muse wearing a black hat and with the swan-like neck typical of his style.Modigliani painted the tranquil portrait shortly before his death from tuberculosis in 1920. Days later, a devastated Hebuterne threw herself from a window and died. She was pregnant with their second child at the time."It was a romantic, intense and ultimately tragic love story," said Giovanna Bertazzoni, head of Christie's impressionist and modern art department."This intense passion is actually translated in this wonderful portrait which is, of course, a homage to his love."The portrait has been in the hands of a private collector in New York since 2006, when it was bought for £16.3 million.As Modigliani died when he was only 35 and produced relatively few pieces during his short career, his work generates huge excitement among buyers when it makes a rare appearance at an auction.Christie's expects to raise at least £98 million from the 78 works on sale in Wednesday's auction of impressionist and modern art.It has been a good week for portraits of artists' lovers on auction in London.On Tuesday, a painting by Pablo Picasso of his lover and muse Marie-Therese Walter, "Femme assise pres d'une fenetre" (Woman sitting by a window), sold for £28.6 million at Christie's rival, Sotheby's.