- Lucian Freud 's final painting of benefits supervisor Sue Tilley, Sleeping by the Lion Carpet , is estimated to sell for up to £35m at a Sotheby's auction in June.
- The artwork, painted between 1995 and 1996, is considered a defining masterpiece by art critics and will be offered for sale for the first time.
- Sue Tilley, the subject, expressed amusement at the painting's high valuation, telling BBC Radio 4 ’s Today : “I think, ‘How can that be possible when I’ve never got any money myself?’”
- This painting is part of a series of large canvases Freud created of Tilley, with another portrait, Benefits Supervisor Resting , selling for a record £35.9m in 2015.
- Tilley, who was in her late thirties when the work was painted, said the paintings show “all those skinny girls that big girls can do well as well”.
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