Amedeo Modigliani, the Italian painter and sculptor, died young and led a rather gloomy existence. His birth coincided with the collapse of his father’s once-thriving business enterprises, and health problems plagued him from a young age. At 35 years old, he passed away from tubercular meningitis. It was in this state of financial and physical frailty, during the later stages of his illness, that Modigliani painted “Nu couché,” — in English, “Reclining Nude.” The work was one of a series of several dozen nudes that were shown during the only solo exhibition of the artist’s life, an occasion made notorious by the discussions it raised over obscenity in artwork. (So…