A painting by Lucian Freud, the grandson of famed psychologist Sigmund Freud, depicting a nude London clerk sold for a staggering $39 million at auction on Wednesday, June 24. The plus-sized model, Sue Tilley, has expressed her delight at the sale.
Model Reacts to Record Sale
“Mona Lisa wasn’t alive when she became famous — but I am,” Sue Tilley, 69, told the Wall Street Journal after the portrait titled “Sleeping by the Lion Carpet” was sold at Sotheby’s London. The artwork, painted between 1995 and 1996, shows a then 35-year-old Tilley sleeping in a chair without any clothing.
Background of the Painting
The portrait is one of four that Lucian Freud painted of Tilley. At the time, Tilley worked as a supervisor at an employment office and part-time as a clerk at a London nightclub. Freud, then 70, asked her to join his circle of friends and lovers who posed for his portraits. When asked why she agreed to pose nude, Tilley told the Wall Street Journal: “He was funny and bought us nice food.”
Payment and Artistic Process
Freud, who died in 2011, initially paid Tilley 20 pounds a day — approximately $85 in today’s currency — to pose for him. He later increased the payment to 35 pounds as he requested her to return for more paintings, each of which took months to complete. Connoisseurs consider “Sleeping by the Lion Carpet,” which features Tilley lounging in a chair with an embroidered tiger in the background, to be the greatest work of the series. The four portraits together have previously fetched $129 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.
No Financial Gain for Model
Despite the high sale price, Tilley does not receive any money from the sale of the portrait. “I figure I’m probably worth about £100 million,” she jokingly told the outlet.
