Being the subject, Lucian Freud, had reason to be wary yet he proved so responsive to questioning that before long what was to have been a brief study threatened to become a full-scale biography. When, in December 2000, I showed him a couple of chapters he was perturbed and I agreed to shelve what I’d done, the understanding being that ‘a novel’, as he put it, could well be published after his death. Through the years that followed he continued to reminisce. ‘How old am I now?’ he would often ask when I answered the phone. He even took to referring enquirers to me, telling them that I had come to know more about his life than he could still remember. To him go my prolonged thanks.
Conspicuous among those to whom Lucian was primarily a parent and who provided me with recollections, generous help and insights were Annie Freud, Rose [Boyt] Pearce and Esther Freud. Particular thanks to them, also to his successive dealers, James Kirkman and Bill Acquavella, to his assistant David Dawson and lawyer Diana Rawstron (who together administer the Lucian Freud Archive). Weekly discussions with Frank Auerbach while sitting for him from 2003 onwards proved singularly fruitful. And I’m indebted to Andrew Parker Bowles for the loan of his scrapbook.
Thanks and acknowledgments to:
Judy Adam, Clare Allen, Anne Ambler, Michael Andrews, June Andrews, Melanie Andrews, James Astor, Jake Auerbach, Kate Austin, Jack Baer, Marc Balakjian, Oliver Barker, Nicola Bateman, Mary Rose Beaumont, Nicci Bell, Felicity Bellfield (nee Hellaby), Bruce Bernard, Jan Banyard, David Batterham, Leigh Bowery, Emily Bearn, Edward Booth-Clibborn, Mark Boxer, Ib Boyt, Kai Boyt, Christopher Bramham, Polly Bramham, Dr Paul Brass, Richard Calvocoressi, Robin Campbell, Henri Cartier Bresson, Robin Cembalest, Susanna Chancellor, Perienne Christian, Sally Clarke, William Coldstream, Cressida Connolly, Robert Coward, John Craxton, Caroline Cuthbert, Roy Davis, Robert Dalrymple, William Darby, Jim Demetrion, Tracy Emin, Erica Davies, Hatty Davidson, Andrew Dempsey, Stephen Deuchar, Hamish Dewar, Angela Dyer, Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire, Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, Harry Diamond, Pat Docherty, Anne Dunn, Freddy Eliot, Jacquetta Eliot, Mark Evans, Tony Eyton, Dan Farson, Charlotte Frank, Stephen Freud, Alice Feaver, Dorothy Feaver, Emily Feaver, Daniela Ferretti, Starr Figura, Jackie Ford, Annabel Freud, Bella Freud, Stephen Gardiner, Nick Garland, Kitty Garman, Martin Gayford, Patrick George, Riccardo Giaccherini, Catherine Goodman, Michael Gormley, Lawrence Gowing, Noame Gottesman, Kim Grusczynski, Dan Gordon, Lindy Guinness, Penelope (Cuthbertson) Guinness, Kathleen Hale, Maggie Hambling, Michael Hamburger, Richard Hamilton, Adrian Heath, David Hockney, Howard Hodgkin, Richard Hollis, Mary Horlock, Sarah Howgate, John Hubbard, Robert Hughes, Evelyn Joll, Jay Jopling, Danny Katz, Moira Kelly, Rolfe Kentish, Edward King, Jeremy King, RB Kitaj, Fred Lambton, Catherine Lampert, Cecily Langdale, Sophie Lawrence, Magnus Linklater, Barbara Lloyd, John Lessore, Joe Lewis, Janey Longman, Sarah Lucas, Louise Liddell, Vivienne Light, Tomas Llorens, Honey Luard, John McCracken, Alfie McLean, Paul McLean, John McEwan, John McLean, Matthew Marks, Mel Merians, Charles Miers, Terry Danziger Miles, Daniel Miller, Mike Moritz, Lynda Morris, Richard Morphet, Rebecca Morse, Richard Mosse, Jane McAdam Freud, Paul McAdam Freud, Charles Noble, Tim Nicholson, Cavan O’Brien, Mark O’Connor, Pilar Ordovas, Sonia Orwell, Francis Outred, Celia Paul, Tristram Powell, Marcus Price, Eduardo Paolozzi, Geoffrey Parton, Susanna Pollen, Marcus Price, John Richardson, Eric de Rothschild, Alan Ross, John Russell, Brian Sayers, Roz Saville, Patricia Scanlan, Michael Sheldon, Paul Schimmel, Karsten Schubert, Colin Self, Nicholas Serota. David Somerset, 11th Duke of Beaufort, Graham Southern, Unity Spencer, Natasha Spender, Sebastian Smee. Sophie de Stempl, George Stephenson, Timothy Stevens, Mercedes Stoutzker, Jeremy Strick, Christine Styrnau, David Sylvester, Charlotte Taylor, Ruthven Todd, Vitek Tracz, Euan Uglow, Gabriele Ullstein, Nino Valaoritis, Virginia Verran, Alice Weldon, Rowan Williams, Alexi Williams Wynn, Lady Jane Willoughby, Colin St John (Sandy) Wilson, John Wonnacott, Randall Wright, Francis Wyndham.
A number of others have expressed a wish to remain anonymous; and the help of many whose involvement and knowledge relate to Freud’s life from the seventies onwards will be acknowledged in the second volume.
The following have kindly given me permission to quote from letters and documents: Lucian Freud Archives, [Sigmund] Freud Museum Archives (Michael Molnar), Tate Archives (Adrian Glew) National Portrait Gallery Archives, Marine Safety Agency (Neil Staples), Craxton Estate (Richard Riley).
The extract here is from ‘Refugees’, © Estate of Louis MacNeice, reprinted by permission of David Higham.
The extract here © 1947 TIME USA, LLC. All rights reserved. Reprinted/Translated from TIME and published with permission of TIME USA, LLC. Reproduction in any manner in any language in whole or in part without the written permission of TIME USA, LLC is prohibited.
My heartfelt thanks to my literary agent Deborah Rogers, of Rogers, Coleridge & White, whose vivid guidance and advocacy for this book extended over decades until her untimely death in 2014, since when Zoë Waldie has been a most excellent guide and minder.
At Bloomsbury Alexandra Pringle’s enthusiasm and verve have delighted me, my editor Bill Swainson has been a friendly guide and fastidious amender, as has Peter James (copy editor) and Catherine Best (proofreader) while my in-house editor Angelique Tran Van Sang has conducted matters with patience, skill and aplomb. Many thanks also to Allegra Le Fanu, Francesca Sturiale, David Mann, Douglas Matthews, Emma Bal, Genista Tate-Alexander and Maria Hammershoy.
Shelley Wanger at Knopf in New York has coordinated publication there with super-efficient flair.
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To Andrea Rose for her support, endurance, knowledge and telling advice, my ultimate gratitude and love.
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