Lucian Freud British, 1922-2011
Before the Fourth, 2004
Original etching on Somerset white paper, framed
Initialed by the artist in pencil, lower right on recto
Initialed by the artist in pencil, lower right on recto
Plate: 34.3 x 42.5 cm (13 1/2 x 16 3/4 in.)
Sheet: 57.3 x 66 cm (22 ½ x 26 in.)
Framed: 66.7 x 73.9 cm (26 x 29 in.)
Sheet: 57.3 x 66 cm (22 ½ x 26 in.)
Framed: 66.7 x 73.9 cm (26 x 29 in.)
© The Estate of Lucian Freud
Before the Fourth is a portrait of society figure, actress and friend of Freud's, Annabel Mullion, pregnant with her fourth child William Ajax Baring, who was born in June 2004....
Before the Fourth is a portrait of society figure, actress and friend of Freud's, Annabel Mullion, pregnant with her fourth child William Ajax Baring, who was born in June 2004. Freud had painted Mullion once before, with her dog Rattler in 1998, and did so a second time a year after the present etching for the related painting Expecting the Fourth. The artist was a constant admirer of Mullion's enduring beauty, and she was described by the scholar Catherine Lampert in Freud's Guardian obituary as having "limbs still like a thoroughbred", and quoted one of Freud's favourite authors, Baudelaire, to describe the longevity of her youth: "vainly have time and love sunk their teeth into her”. Related work: ‘Expecting the Fourth’ (2005), oil on canvas, 10.2 x 15.2 cm
Literature
Figura, S., Lucian Freud ‘The Painters Etchings’, New York, The Museum of
Modern Art, 2007 - page 26, Fig 12. Freud’s etchings were the subject of a major
exhibition, Lucian Freud: The Painters Etchings at the Museum of Modern art in New York
which ran from December 2007 to March 2008.
