Portrait of Bacon sells for £5.4m but painting by Bacon fails to sell

AN UNFINISHED portrait of Francis Bacon by Lucian Freud, one of only two he ever painted of his friend and the only one whose whereabouts is known, sold for £5.4 million pounds (€6.96 million) in London yesterday.

However, a Francis Bacon painting which was expected to fetch up €10 million at Christie's in London was one of a number of works which failed to sell.

The Portrait of Henrietta Moraes had a presale low estimate of £5.5 million (€7.08 million).

Christie's International failed to sell 45 per cent of works on sale because of the depressed international art market. "Obviously we need to adjust our prices," said Ed Dolman, Christie's chief executive officer. "There isn't too much confidence out there."

The unsold Bacon work was bought by Guinness heir Garech Browne for his home at Luggala, Co Wicklow in 1970. At one stage it was the only Bacon painting in Ireland, despite the artist being born in Dublin. Browne, a 69-year-old who founded Claddagh Records, was a friend of Bacon and Moraes. He has long been a patron of the arts.

Moraes was a famous 1960s model and socialite who was one of Bacon's favourite subjects. The painting is one of his first portraits of her. It is signed on the back by Moraes: "For the first time a vision of me by my friend Francis Bacon, Henrietta Moraes."Mr Browne decided to sell the painting because it was too valuable to insure and keep at his estate.

He lent the painting to the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery in Dublin. He also secured the Francis Bacon studio for the gallery through his friendship with Bacon's former lover John Edwards.