Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz, 1916

Amedeo Modigliani, Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz, 1916, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Many artists lived in the neighborhood of Montparnasse at the time, and several—including Modigliani and sculptor Jacques Lipchitz—shared Jewish roots. When Lipchitz married Russian poet Berthe Kitrosser, he asked Modigliani to paint their portrait, partly to support his struggling friend financially. This is one of only three double portraits Modigliani ever created. Interestingly, it was mostly finished in just two days. Modigliani sketched around 20 drawings on the first day and called it done the next. But for “10 francs a sitting and a little alcohol,” Lipchitz convinced him to keep working on it for two more weeks, simply to help him earn a bit more.