BBC identifies Lucian Freud painting denied as his is own

An early Lucian Freud painting worth at least £300,000 has been identified by the BBC, despite the artist's own denials that it was his work.

The painting, by the acclaimed portrait artist who died in 2011, was identified by BBC One show Fake Or Fortune, BBC News reports.

Experts at Christie's auction house claimed it to be a Freud in 1985, but the artist denied it was his work.

However, notes uncovered from the artist's former solicitor and further analysis prove the painting was by him.

It is claimed the artist's reticence in acknowledging the work was down to the fact that it was originally owned by Denis Wirth-Miller, an artist with whom Freud had a long-running feud. Denying authorship meant it was impossible for it to be sold under his name.

 
Fake Or Fortune presenters Fiona Bruce and art historian Philip Mould had the breakthrough when they spoke to Freud's solicitor, who found a note in her files of a phone conversation with the artist from 2006.Freud apparently said he had started the painting, but it had actually been completed by someone else and for this reason, he would not acknowledge it as his own work.

Now after analysis of the techniques and materials used in the painting, three Freud experts said they believed the painting was solely by him, and was likely to have been completed in 1939.