The Freud exhibition at the National Gallery – Lucian Freud: New Perspectives – looks pretty amazing, insofar as I could judge in the hurly-burly of a private view: so many paintings, so many of them unfamiliar, at least to me, from private as well as public collections: the full span of his career from the early works, painted when he was still a student under Cedric Morris, through to the big, late works and including many wonderful, unknown portraits, as well as more ambitious compositions. So good to see them in the grand galleries upstairs where Freud was said to roam late at night.
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
Dear Charles,
I envy you the opportunity to see the Lucian Freud show. And yes, I can confirm that he wandered late at night through the galleries. I once came across him when I, too, was sauntering there late at night (accompanied, I assure you). He was wearing an old macintosh, and I took him for a homeless person who had strayed in off the street. But no, it was Freud, exercising his trustee’s prerogative, if I’m not mistaken.
Warm wishes from New York,
Ivan
Dear Ivan, Yes, he had apparently had a privilege pass from way back, not as a former trustee, which he wasn’t. I assume he persuaded Michael Levey to allow him one and, in the summer of 1987, he did an Artist’s Eye exhibition, maybe as in some way a thank you, and then, as Nick Penny describes, he contributed in 2000 to Encounters. The exhibition is highly suggestive of his relationship to the collection, but the topic is not actually much explored, maybe because he was so determined never to reveal his sources. Charles
Is it true he did more than roam there?
Not to my knowledge, but I wouldn’t be the best source. Charles