This 1915 canvas was completed around the time that Modigliani decided to abandon his hopes of becoming an established sculptor, preferring instead the medium of painting. The onset of the First World War meant a profound change for Modigliani. Before 1914 he had worked principally as a sculptor, producing carved heads and figures, their slender elegance owing much to the tribal art of Africa and the Oceanic art of the Pacific. However, when war broke out, stone became scarce and too expensive for the poor artist to purchase. Building projects were halted and the sites from which the artist had customarily scrounged his blocks of stone had all but disappeared. In 1914, therefore, Modigliani abandoned sculpture and focused his attention on painting.

Still, the unusual figure in the following portrait demonstrates the Artist’s lingering preference for sculptural forms. The long pointed face and the columnar neck once more recall Modigliani?s early works in stone, evoking a sense of immutability in the character. Modigliani now experiments with a broken and impressionistic outline to his figure, avoiding the sharp continuous line seen in the previous caryatid plate.
Pierrot is a stock character of pantomime and Commedia dell?Arte, whose origins can be traced to late seventeenth century Italian troupes of players performing in Paris, known as the Comédie-Italienne; the name itself is a hypocorism of Pierre. His character in contemporary popular culture 3ƒ4 in poetry, fiction, the visual arts, as well as works for the stage, screen, and concert hall 3ƒ4 is that of the sad clown, pining for love of Columbine, who usually breaks his heart and leaves him for Harlequin. Performing unmasked, with a whitened face, his character usually wears a loose white blouse with large buttons and wide white pantaloons. The defining characteristic of Pierrot is his naSèveté, as he is seen as a fool and the butt of pranks, yet nonetheless trusting.

The right eye of Modigliani?s SÀPierrot? is left blank, indicating a common feature of the Artist’s later portraits. A sense of anonymity and blankness of soul seems to fill the painting. The name of the figure is informally scratched directly over the lower section of the canvas, reinforcing the impression that the depicted character is a type, rather than an actual individual known.