Freud's garden etching on view

ONE OF the major works of art to go on show at this year's London Original Print Fair is the first landscape etching by Lucian Freud.

The reclusive artist is renowned for his portraits of nudes, which are selling for increasingly large prices at sale rooms around the world. One of the most controversial was his portrait of a heavily pregnant Jerry Hall at her behest.

He usually refuses requests, preferring to choose his subjects, and has turned down the Queen, the Pope and the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

But now he has abandoned the female form and for the first time turned to the world around him for inspiration. He has created a view of his garden in Holland Park, London, in winter. Measuring 98.4cm by 76.8cm, it took him two years to finish, on account of the changing seasons.

He completed an oil version of the garden at the same time as the etching and showed it at the Tate last year.

The print has only just been made and is for sale for pounds 12,500. The 14th annual print fair opens today and runs until 25 April at the Royal Academy.