Francis Bacon Portrait of Lucian Freud Expected to Fetch $42 M. at Sotheby’s – RisePEI

A 1964 portray depicting the British painter Lucian Freud by Francis Bacon will probably be bought at public sale subsequent month in London after practically 60 years out of the general public eye.

Estimated to fetch a worth of £35 million ($42 million), the work will probably be supplied throughout a night sale devoted to British Artwork at Sotheby’s in London on June 29, alongside different works by John Constable, David Hockney and Flora Yukhnovich.

The portray, Research for Portrait of Lucian Freud, was impressed by {a photograph} depicting Freud sitting on a mattress together with his arms outstretched, that was shot by John Deakin, a pal and assistant to Bacon. Deviating barely from its supply picture, the canvas, measuring 78 by 58 inches, exhibits Freud together with his shirt unbuttoned and his facial options distorted.

The artists first met in 1944. Freud, who Bacon painted ceaselessly all through the Sixties, as soon as described the method the Irish-born painter took to his canvases and the numerous topics he rendered as “utterly ruthless.” It was an angle that Freud—recognized for labor-intensive and painterly portraits of his acquaintances— as soon as remarked freed him to be “extra daring” together with his personal work. The 2 painters remained mates till the Eighties, up till which numerous rifts fueled by Freud’s obvious jealously over Bacon’s rising fame would fracture their relationship.

Bacon produced the portray initially as a central panel for a large-scale triptych. All three panels hung collectively as a part of a touring exhibition to Hamburg and Stockholm, whereas the current lot was final proven in Dublin in 1965; the 2 others reside in non-public assortment and on the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, respectively. After passing by means of London and European collections, it was bought by the present proprietor in 1982.

The work will go on view at Sotheby’s New Bond location on June 23, earlier than going up on the public sale block in London on the finish of the month.