I love the lurkers

I love it when people just weigh in out of the blue. This from a self-acknowledged "long time lurker." I wonder how may of them there are. Perhaps legions?

Geoffrey,

Good morning from a long time lurker on your blog.

I thought that you might like to see a picture of the model (Sue Tilley) for Lucian Freud's painting. She was interviewed when Christie's sold the painting for $33mm.

She recalled posing several days per week over about nine months. While the pay (20 pounds per day) was nice, it wasn't the best part.

"The best thing was I got lovely lunches. I got taken to the River Cafe most weekends. It was worth it for that."

My favorite anecdote was regarding an art critic at an exhibition that she attended.

"The man was so mortified. It was the Whitechapel Gallery. There'd been a big exhibition on, and my painting had just been finished, so they put it in for the last week.

"So I went with my friends to see it, and there was this man - you know those so-called art lecturers who think they know everything - 'yes, this painting was painted because Lucian hated women . . .'

"I started laughing. He was going 'excuse me madam' and I said, 'well actually that's me'.

"Poor man, he thought was going to fall through a hole in the floor.

"He said: 'oh but you're really pretty in real life.'"

When I read that Christie's had sold Freud's painting for a ferocious amount even though Lucian was still alive, I was relieved. I was concerned that in order to achieve your goal you would have to pass on . . . and I would miss your blog !!

Signed, [redacted]

I love writing the word "redacted."

The picture he attached is this one:



To which I add this one:



Sorry they are both so small. I particularly hunted for a larger version of the first.

In case you have forgotten, this is the object of the discussion:



This is a painting I would love to reinterpret using the obscured box technique. I would remind you of this--my reinterpretation of Picasso's portrait of Gertie Stein:



Which, in person, is a smasher of the first rate. Underappreciated by many, I believe.