Lucian Freud portrait of his muse Sue Tilley could sell for £35m

• Lucian Freud's final painting of benefits supervisor Sue Tilley, Sleeping by the Lion Carpet, is estimated to sell for up to £35m at a Sotheby's auction in June.
• The artwork, painted between 1995 and 1996, is considered a defining masterpiece by art critics and will be offered for sale for the first time.
• Sue Tilley, the subject, expressed amusement at the painting's high valuation, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today: “I think, ‘How can that be possible when I’ve never got any money myself?’”
• This painting is part of a series of large canvases Freud created of Tilley, with another portrait, Benefits Supervisor Resting, selling for a record £35.9m in 2015.
• Tilley, who was in her late thirties when the work was painted, said the paintings show “all those skinny girls that big girls can do well as well”.

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‘Big girls can do well’ says Lucian Freud muse as portrait could fetch £35m