The Errant Æsthete

Nude, c.1912 by Amedeo Modigliani, The Courtauld Gallery, London.

The first rule of the good life is that it be lived in moderation. Every Errant Aesthete knows full well the calamitous consequences that befall those who, as Edna St. Vincent Millay immortalized in her poem First Fig, cautioned:

My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends-
It gives a lovely light!

Sadly, it was a warning lost on the renowned Italian artist, Amedeo Modigliani, who not only died young, but lived in excessive disrepute. But what a dashing figure he cut in his brown corduroys, scarlet scarf and large black hat while carrying on frequent affairs, drinking heavily and partaking of absinthe and hashish. So out of control was Modigliani that when drunk, he would oftentimes strip himself naked at social gatherings. Not surprisingly, he became the epitome of the tragic artist, creating a posthumous legend as well-known as that of Vincent van Gogh.