Lucian Freud, Four Eggs on a Plate, 2002. Copyright Sotheby’s UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR £989,000
The late Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, a frequent visitor to the family estate in Lismore, Co. Waterford, always brought eggs to Lucian Freud when she went to London. In return Freud gave Four Eggs on a Plate as a gift to the Duchess in 2002. Their enduring friendship is highlighted by the sale of the painting at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art evening auction in London on July 1. It is estimated at £100,000-150,000.
Deborah was youngest of the six Mitford sisters who captivated British society in the 1940s and 50s – marrying Andrew Cavendish in 1941. Cavendish became the 11th Duke of Devonshire in 1950 and she dedicated her life to the running of Chatsworth. The Duchess was famed for a somewhat eccentric pursuit for a society beauty: a passion for chickens. Freud’s gift is a tender memento of a lifelong bond between the great artist and the larger-than-life duchess.
Oliver Barker, Sotheby’s Senior International Specialist in Contemporary Art said: “We’re incredibly excited to be offering a work of such personal significance to both Lucian Freud and the late Dowager Duchess of Devonshire. This small, exquisitely beautiful painting was a treasured gift and today it stands as a token of their enduring friendship. Four Eggs on a Plate is a painting like no other. We see Freud’s tremendous virtuosity as a painter, transforming a simple subject into a work of extraordinary power – and we see the portrait of a friendship between an artist and a duchess.” Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, died aged 94, in September 2014.
UPDATE: This work sold for £989,000 after a bidding battle by seven bidders.
