A portrait of benefits supervisor Sue Tilley by Lucian Freud is expected to fetch up to £35m at auction, though the subject herself has never profited from the works. The painting, Sleeping by the Lion Carpet, painted between 1995 and 1996, will be sold at Sotheby’s in June for the first time.
Ms Tilley, now in her late sixties, sat for Freud three times a week over nine months, earning £33 per day. She described the experience as “very pleasurable”, noting the artist fed her well and provided Sunday supplements to read. Despite the high valuations, she joked to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’ve worked it out and I think I must be worth about £100m with the four paintings and all the etchings, and I think, ‘How can that be possible when I’ve never got any money myself?’”
The painting shows Ms Tilley naked, slouched on a leather sofa. Art critic Martin Gayford called it “the most important [work] that Freud has ever painted”. Ms Tilley, who later became an artist and writer, said the portraits celebrate diversity: “I feel like I’m an example for big women to show themselves off.”
Freud died in 2011 aged 88. A previous portrait of Ms Tilley, Benefits Supervisor Resting, sold for £35.9m in 2015. The current work is estimated between £25m and £35m and will be exhibited from 10 June.
