Francis Bacon painting by Lucian Freud expected to fetch £7m at Christie's auction

A portrait of the painter Francis Bacon by his friend and colleague Lucian Freud is expected to sell for up to £7 million at auction this week even though it was never finished. Francis Bacon by Lucien Freud. The painting is expected to raise £7 million at auction Bacon abandoned sitting for Freud before he could complete the study, which was undertaken over three months in 1956-7. Bacon, who died in 1992, is said to have "grumbled but sat consistently". It is only one of two oil paintings that Freud ever undertook of Bacon, despite a friendship that lasted for decades. The other, which Freud painted in 1952, was stolen from the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin in 1988 while on loan from the Tate. It has never been found. Christie's put the picture on display on Tuesday, ahead of its auction on Sunday evening. Pilar Ordovas,... [read full story]