A new exhibition at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, England, brings together rarely seen works by the late British artist Lucian Freud including a celebrated painting once dubbed scandalous. The work, Woman in a White Shirt (1957), depicts the 11th Duchess of Devonshire in a startling, crude portrait that shocked visitors to the stately home.
The work was commissioned by the 11th Duke but “it was not always accepted as a great work of art, certainly when it was painted in the late 1950s,” says the current Duke of Devonshire (12th), “Stoker” Cavendish, who was 15 when the painting of his mother, Deborah, was made. “People were not ready for Freud’s work at that time. They were shocked and pretty upset,” he says. Some family friends even insisted that the work be covered in their presence, says Lady Burlington, the Duchess’s granddaughter-in-law.
Woman in a White Shirt was painted in Freud’s studio in Paddington, west London. “Because she [Deborah] sat for him for three hours a day for months, they became great friends,” says the Duke of Devonshire, who says that when he posed for his own portrait in 1962, Freud would avoid answering the door to people in the street demanding payment for bills. “Lucian nearly always had £10 or £15 on him which in those days would have easily paid the bill but he was a very keen gambler, and he had a horse to back that afternoon,” says the Duke in a Sotheby’s film.
Freud was one of the couple’s first visitors, visiting Chatsworth in autumn 1959. During his stay, the artist began painting a mural of flowers and leaves in a private bathroom though this remained unfinished. Freud left his paints behind which have remained at the house ever since.
Freud at Chatsworth (until 9 October) includes 12 paintings and 15 works on paper by the artist. The paintings include portraits of the 11th Duke of Devonshire—Portrait of a man (Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire), 1971-72—reflecting the friendship between the two men who became friends in the late 1940s. Freud spent time at Chatsworth, painting six members of the 11th Duke’s family over a 20-year period.
Other key Freud pieces include Small Fern (1967), a work loaned from the collection of Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, and Four Eggs on a Plate (around 2002), drawn from a private collection. A 1936 linocut called Runaway Horse is a rare early work, reflecting Freud’s artistic flair while he was at school.
The Freud collection forms part of a larger exhibition called Living With Art We Love featuring highlights from the current Duke and Duchess’ collection; contemporary commissions by artists such as Michael Craig-Martin and the ceramicist Natasha Daintry are displayed alongside works by Poussin, Rembrandt and the 15th-century Italian painter Boltraffio.
In complete contrast, a series of giant sculptures from the Burning Man festival held in Nevada’s Black Rock desert go on display in the publicly accessible 1,000-acre park surrounding the house (Radical Horizons: The Art of Burning Man at Chatsworth, 9 April-1 October).
