- Sophie Church posed for Freud’s Portrait on a White Cover, completed in 2003
- Now it is set to be sold for as much as £20 million by auctioneers at Sotheby’s
- She said of the portrait: ‘It’s both just like me and also absolutely apart from me’
A woman who posed nude for a Lucian Freud portrait 16 years ago has spoken of the experience after being told it is to be sold at auction for an estimated £20 million.
Sophie Church posed for Freud’s Portrait on a White Cover, which was completed in 2003, after she met the late artist while producing a catalogue of his work.
After she was told the painting will be auctioned by Sotheby’s in London, she said it was ‘quite emotional’ and like ‘going back in time’.
Sophie Church posed for one of Freud’s paintings when she was 31 and then known as Sophie Lawrence
Sophie Church posed for Freud’s Portrait on a White Cover, which was completed in 2003, after she met the late artist while producing a catalogue of his work
Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, she said: ‘It’s both just like me and also absolutely apart from me, and it reminds me so much of Lucian and that time.’
‘It rocked me, really,’ she added, explaining that her ‘jaw hit the floor’ when she was told of the sale.
The 47-year-old is now a speech and language therapist with a husband and two children.
She posed for the 80-year-old painter when she was 31 and then known as Sophie Lawrence.
Mrs Church often spent as long as six hours a night sitting for Freud over an eight-month period.
She said Freud decided to paint her because she was ‘reliable’ and punctual.
He would paint her from 7pm to 11pm or sometimes up until 1am before getting her a taxi home.
She posed for the 80-year-old painter (pictured in 2008) when she was 31 and then known as Sophie Lawrence
She said everything in the finished painting was accurate except for a blue vein added by Freud.
Speaking of Freud, she said: ‘I was very fond of him. At the same time, I knew I didn’t want to work with him again.’
She did not see him again.
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