Lucian Freud’s etching of Wolseley restaurant creator to be sold

A portrait by Lucian Freud of the restaurateur behind the Wolseley, the Mayfair institution the place the artist dined almost each night in the previous couple of years of his life, is to be bought subsequent month.

Freud was finishing the etching of Jeremy King when he died in 2011. The 2 had change into pals over a interval of about 30 years after Freud started eating at Le Caprice, one other King institution (and a favorite of Diana, Princess of Wales’s), and on the Wolseley when it opened in 2003.

Freud ate on the basic artwork deco restaurant on Piccadilly, harking back to the grand European cafes that he remembered from his childhood, 5 - 6 occasions every week within the final eight years of his life.

He often ordered Atlantic prawns or moules et frites, accompanied by his personal wine which he saved within the restaurant’s cellars. Generally he ate alone; typically within the firm of sitters together with Kate Moss and David Hockney. Now and again, King – who, as a rule didn't dine with friends – would be part of the desk.

Lucian Freud ate on the Wolseley on Piccadilly 5 - 6 occasions every week within the final eight years of his life. Photograph: Sophia Evans/The Observer

The evening after Freud died, a black tablecloth was positioned over his nook desk on the Wolseley, with a single candle burning in his reminiscence.

King, who was additionally behind the Ivy in Soho, which was frequented by Younger British Artists within the Nineties, sat twice for Freud: in 2006-2007 for a portray, after which 2008 to 2011 for a copper plate etching, Head of Jeremy King, which is being bought by Sotheby’s. It's estimated to fetch as much as £350,000.

King mentioned: “From the second Lucian began coming into the Caprice within the 80s, he was all the time very a lot a part of my world, but it surely was not till the opening of the Wolseley in 2003 that I actually received to know him.

“It was a spot he would undertake as his residence over the subsequent eight years, and he grew to become, over time, the one particular person I'd sit with within the restaurant besides my rapid household … I feel we have been drawn collectively as a result of we have been each fairly solo individuals, each nice observers, and there was no higher place to observe the world go by than the grand cafe that was the Wolseley. We might take pleasure in our time collectively speaking about our households, his friends, the previous, or by singing, or saying nothing in any respect.”

The portrait introduced collectively “two absolute masters of their respective arts” mentioned Oliver Barker, Sotheby’s chairman of Europe.

“Whereas we'll by no means know what Freud’s supposed printed etching would have seemed like, this luminous copper plate, replete with the artist’s meticulous scratches and chalk marks, is an inventive triumph in its personal proper.”