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Artist Lucian Freud unveils his new muse
Olivia Cole and Robert Mendick31.03.09
Lucian Freud has a new muse.
Perienne Christian, 25, herself an artist, has been posing nude for Freud in his studio for more than a year.
The painting, which is near completion, is likely to fetch up to £15 million.
Freud, his model and the artwork are seen here for the first time in a photograph by his long-time assistant David Dawson.
Today Christian, who trained at the Prince's Drawing School in Hackney, founded by Prince Charles, gave an insight into the way the 86-year-old artist works.
She told how in January last year she was approached by Catherine Goodman, a tutor at the Drawing School, and told Freud was looking for a model.
"My tutor thought that I might fit the bill," she said. "A few days later I met Lucian for breakfast at Sally Clarke's [restaurant in Kensington]. Then I waited to hear back. It must have been later that day when the lady who organised the meeting called me to say he wanted to go ahead." Christian has been returning to Freud's west London studio two or three times a week ever since for evening sittings that can last up to five hours.
She said: "As an artist, to have that kind of experience is amazing. It's incredible; it's wonderful. It has taught me about dedication. It is very inspiring to be around somebody who is such a brilliant painter and is so dedicated to his craft."
She added that she was not put off by posing naked: "I have been to art school so it is something that is part of what I have done.
"I don't find it strange at all. At the Prince's Drawing School we did life drawing so there are a lot of naked bodies around." On the long hours spent being a model, Christian said: "I never get bored. It is something I can do very easily."
Last week Freud went with Christian to a private dinner thrown by French fashion house Lanvin in celebration of its new London store.
Freud has a history of relationships with muses far younger than he is - but Christian said theirs was strictly business, and she is paid for modelling: "I live with my boyfriend. There is never anything like that. It has never come into it. It just seemed like an exciting opportunity."
While Freud is widely recognised as the world's greatest living artist, Christian, who lives in south-east London, is still establishing her name. She has sold "three or four" oil paintings.
She hopes to sell more etchings and drawings, priced at up to £1,000, at an exhibition at the R K Burt Gallery in Southwark which opens on Thursday and runs for a week.
From supermodels to benefits supervisors: some of Lucian's women
Kitty Garman: Married Freud in 1948 and they had two daughters. She is in Girl With A White Dog (1951-52). They divorced in 1952.
Lady Jacquetta Eliot, Countess of St Germans: Mother of his son Freddie. Featured in the 1973 work Large Interior W9.
Esther Freud: The novelist first posed for her father aged 16.
Jerry Hall: The Texan supermodel posed nude, Freud adding her suckling a baby at a later date.
Kate Moss: His portrayal of the naked and pregnant supermodel fetched £3.93 million at auction in 2005.
Sue Tilley: Posed for Benefits Supervisor Sleeping in 1995, bought by Roman Abramovich for £17.2 million.
Alexandra Williams-Wynn: The daughter of a Welsh baronet is in The Painter Surprised By A Naked Admirer.
