Amedeo Modigliani’s Georgian Muse

Paris, 1911. Destitute artist Amedeo Modigliani brings two women to his tiny attic apartment. One of them is the poet Anna Akhmatova, with whom he is having a passionate affair. The second is the dazzling Mingrelian Princess Alexandra Dadiani, whom Akhmatova had met back in St. Petersburg. Right in front of Akhmatova, Modigliani, captivated by the Georgian woman’s beauty, declares: “I am going to paint her.” A century later, this work would sell at a Sotheby’s auction for an astronomical £26 million. But the most incredible part is that the model herself remained silent about this masterpiece until the end of her days.