16th Sep, 2026 12:00
London | Ancient & Modern
22
⊕ LUCIAN FREUD (BRITISH 1922-2011)
GIRL HOLDING HER FOOT, 1985
signed with initials lower right in pencil; numbered 37/50 lower left
etching on Somerset Satin White paper
published in 1986 by James Kirkman (London) and Brooke Alexander (New York)
(PQ 27, Hartley 25)
69 x 54cm (plate); (89 x 72cm sheet); (96 x 79cm framed)
Provenance:
Sale, Carrere & Laborie, Pau, 23rd April 2022, lot 43
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner
Lucian Freud arrived in England from Berlin in 1933 at the age of ten and became a British subject six years later. Over the next 70 years he went on to become not only one of Britain's greatest artists, but one of the twentieth century's most consequential figurative painters.
The Paddington years at Delamere Terrace, the Soho drinking with Bacon, Auerbach, Andrews and Kossoff, and finally Holland Park; his work does not assume the character it does, and his personality does not find its expression in the way that it does without London. Except for a couple of particularly notable bursts in the early part of his career after the war Freud rarely left the city. His sitters came almost exclusively from the life immediately around him; neighbours, lovers, children, bookmakers, fellow painters. The work therefore amounts to one of the most sustained portraits of a metropolitan existence in British art.
Freud's printmaking came in two widely separated bursts. Freud etched a handful of plates in 1946, developing one in a hotel sink, then lost interest and abandoned the medium for over thirty years. He returned in 1982 with several small portrait heads and thereafter etched steadily until the end of his life, producing a body of work now regarded as fully the equal of the paintings rather than a sideline to them. That reassessment was formalised in 2007, when the Museum of Modern Art in New York devoted an entire exhibition, The Painter's Etchings, to the subject — a rare compliment to any painter's prints.
The magic of Freud's prints exists in their function as complete and distinct works of art, and never as versions of, or corrollaries to his paintings. The copper was set upright on an easel and worked exactly as a canvas would be, directly from the model across weeks or months of sittings, with no preparatory drawing and no transfer. Etching was therefore not a means of reproducing images already made in paint but an independent act of scrutiny conducted in another language, and the accumulating lines proved capable of describing weight and the sag of flesh with the candour of paintings.
Freud's genius always lies in the cold, and frequently unkind, psychodrama which plays out in his pictures. His detached condemnation of individuals, the laying bare of insecurities, and the unflinching fleshy reality of their presence is his unique talent. And this very human accomplishment, paired with his visceral artistic manner, is on full display here. Girl Holding Her Foot of 1985 is a masterpiece of composition, character and ambition. The figure floats amongst the unforgiving white backdrop of the sheet, and a carefully wrought tension plays out between the vigorous incision of individual lines and the soft, human texture of the figure. We are left to scrutinise the sitter, unadorned as she is. This work is a tour de force of print making and remains among the most sought-after within his oeuvre.
"With etching, there's an element of danger and mystery. You don't know how it's going to come out. What's black is white. What's left is right." - Lucian Freud
Sold for £15,000
GIRL HOLDING HER FOOT, 1985
signed with initials lower right in pencil; numbered 37/50 lower left
etching on Somerset Satin White paper
published in 1986 by James Kirkman (London) and Brooke Alexander (New York)
(PQ 27, Hartley 25)
69 x 54cm (plate); (89 x 72cm sheet); (96 x 79cm framed)
Provenance:
Sale, Carrere & Laborie, Pau, 23rd April 2022, lot 43
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner
Lucian Freud arrived in England from Berlin in 1933 at the age of ten and became a British subject six years later. Over the next 70 years he went on to become not only one of Britain's greatest artists, but one of the twentieth century's most consequential figurative painters.
The Paddington years at Delamere Terrace, the Soho drinking with Bacon, Auerbach, Andrews and Kossoff, and finally Holland Park; his work does not assume the character it does, and his personality does not find its expression in the way that it does without London. Except for a couple of particularly notable bursts in the early part of his career after the war Freud rarely left the city. His sitters came almost exclusively from the life immediately around him; neighbours, lovers, children, bookmakers, fellow painters. The work therefore amounts to one of the most sustained portraits of a metropolitan existence in British art.
Freud's printmaking came in two widely separated bursts. Freud etched a handful of plates in 1946, developing one in a hotel sink, then lost interest and abandoned the medium for over thirty years. He returned in 1982 with several small portrait heads and thereafter etched steadily until the end of his life, producing a body of work now regarded as fully the equal of the paintings rather than a sideline to them. That reassessment was formalised in 2007, when the Museum of Modern Art in New York devoted an entire exhibition, The Painter's Etchings, to the subject — a rare compliment to any painter's prints.
The magic of Freud's prints exists in their function as complete and distinct works of art, and never as versions of, or corrollaries to his paintings. The copper was set upright on an easel and worked exactly as a canvas would be, directly from the model across weeks or months of sittings, with no preparatory drawing and no transfer. Etching was therefore not a means of reproducing images already made in paint but an independent act of scrutiny conducted in another language, and the accumulating lines proved capable of describing weight and the sag of flesh with the candour of paintings.
Freud's genius always lies in the cold, and frequently unkind, psychodrama which plays out in his pictures. His detached condemnation of individuals, the laying bare of insecurities, and the unflinching fleshy reality of their presence is his unique talent. And this very human accomplishment, paired with his visceral artistic manner, is on full display here. Girl Holding Her Foot of 1985 is a masterpiece of composition, character and ambition. The figure floats amongst the unforgiving white backdrop of the sheet, and a carefully wrought tension plays out between the vigorous incision of individual lines and the soft, human texture of the figure. We are left to scrutinise the sitter, unadorned as she is. This work is a tour de force of print making and remains among the most sought-after within his oeuvre.
"With etching, there's an element of danger and mystery. You don't know how it's going to come out. What's black is white. What's left is right." - Lucian Freud
Auction: London | Ancient & Modern, 16th Sep, 2026
London is a city which has had a greater impact on culture around the world than almost any other, and it has never been more important than now to shine a light on its remarkable citizens and history. From Magna Carta to the television London has, again and again, been the source from which progress has radiated. The present sale takes us from a medieval spur found under Cannon Street station, to a medal minted to commemorate the Millennium, from prints and paintings, to clocks and pistols. This sale is a sensational opportunity to acquire a small piece of this incomparable place. Olympia is a proudly London-based auction house and we are thrilled to be offering the inaugural instalment of this sale.
Viewing
PUBLIC EXHIBITION:
Sunday 13th September: 12pm to 4pm
Monday 14th September: 10am to 8.00pm (Drinks from 5pm)
Tuesday 15th September: 10am to 5pm
