Amadeo Modigliani was born in Livorno, Italy in July 1884. Both sides of his family were Sephardic Jews. His father Flaminio was an unsuccessful entrepreneur who had a small money-changing business, and his mother Eugenia, by far the stronger personality of the two, ran an experimental school. Thanks to his mother, the atmosphere of the household was always unconventional. He was the baby in his family and he was treated with special affection and favor.

When he wanted to throw over his studies to become a painter, they promptly sent him to art school, first in Livorno and then in Florence and Venice. He won a student prize and was highly praised. When he jettisoned his bourgeois Italian heritage and...