Lucian Freud British, 1922-2011

The connection between Lucian Freud's paintings and prints is complex, with several of his etchings depicting a particular subject before he began working on a related painting. Man Posing (1985) was completed before his respective Painter and Model (1986-7). In the painting, the composition is extended to feature the 'painter' (a woman) standing beside the sofa, holding a paintbrush, with squeezed tubes of paint on the floor of her feet. The etching shows much of the same detail as the corresponding area of the painting, but from a closer, higher viewpoint. This is not a change from the painting; it is an independent representation deriving from a different sitting by the model. Although similar, the subject matter is significantly different. The man's gaze seems to be directed toward the viewer, while his gaze is averted in the painting. In the etching, Freud's differentiated use of certain lines to shade forms and others to describe body hair exploits his growing command of the medium's possibilities. This is entirely consonant with Freud's ideas of pictorial truth: 'I feel it is immoral to put anything in that isn't there. But it is not necessarily immoral to leave out something that is there.'