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Portrait of a Buncrana tycoon
05.06.07
He may be an unlikely
subject for 'Britain's greatest living painter' but
a portrait of Buncrana property magnate Pat Doherty
will go on show tomorrow as part of a major Irish
exhibition by Lucian Freud.
Doherty, 64, who owns the Lough Swilly Bus Company,
the Redcastle Hotel and is chairman of Harcourt
Developments, did almost ninety sittings for 83-year
old Freud, last year. |
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The resulting portrait
'A Man from Donegal 2006' will be unveiled tomorrow
at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA).
Freud’s pictures can command anything from €3m
upwards with his nude painting of supermodel Kate
Moss selling last year for €6m.
While he didn't commission the painting himself,
Doherty, an art lover with a fortune valued at more
than £350m, could easily afford to buy it. It is
understood, however, that while |
he is pleased with the
picture, he doesn't intend buying it. The Inishowen
man, who generally does not give interviews, became
friends with Freud after being introduced by their
mutual friend, Andrew Parker Bowles, ex-husband of
Camilla Parker Bowles. Mr. Parker Bowles also sits
on the board of Harcourt Developments, which
develops property all over the world and is behind
the current redevelopment of Belfast's 'Titanic
Quarter'.
'A Man from Donegal 2006' is oil on canvas and
measures 22 x 18in. It depicts Doherty in thoughtful
mood wearing a grey-beige suit jacket, pinstripe
shirt and blue tie.
It is among 50 paintings and 20 works on paper and
etchings by Freud from the last six decades and will
run at IMMA from June 6th - September 7th, 2007.
An IMMA spokesperson explained: "...one of his
(Freud's) most recent portraits, 'The Donegal Man
2006', a portrait of a leading Irish businessman,
shows the face of a more modern, enterprising
Ireland".
Freud, the grandson of Sigmund Freud 'The Father of
Psychoanalysis' is known for his fleshy and
unflattering portraits. His painting of the Queen
drew particular criticism. He recently admitted that
his 'Naked Portrait 2002' of Kate Moss “didn’t
work”. It was rumoured at the time of the sale that
Moss, herself, was the anonymous purchaser. |
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