Lucian Freud drawing of him and his first wife, in private hands for nearly 70 years, to be sold at auction
The artist gave the work, an illustration for a book project that never came to pass, to Sonia Brownell, George Orwell's wife
A startlingly intense Lucian Freud drawing not seen in public for nearly 70 years and thought to be the only self-portrait to also feature his first wife Kitty Garman has emerged.
Freud drew the work, , in 1947 and gifted it shortly after to his friend Sonia Brownell, best known for marrying the dying George Orwell in 1949.
After Brownell's death the drawing was passed down through her family and is now to be sold at Sotheby's.
It is a remarkable work, says specialist Simon Hucker of Sotheby's, not least because so little is known about it.
"This has not been seen since 1948. It's not in any of the books, it has just been in Sonia's family's collection - nobody has really known about it, nobody has managed to find it, it has just been off the radar."
