As a thank you to Great Britain for welcoming Sigmund Freud and members of his family when they fled Nazism to seek refuge there in 1933, the late artist Lucian Freud has left a prized Corot painting which is now on display at the National Gallery in London.
Freud's Jewish family moved from Germany to London to flee Nazism when he was 11. Six years later, Lucian, who was Sigmund Freud's grand-son, was granted British citizenship and went on to become one of Britain's most celebrated artist before his death aged 88 in July 2011.
He offered the country Corot's painting titled "The Italian Woman or Woman with yellow sleeve" as well as three sculptures of Degas, "Horse galloping on right foot", "The Masseuse" and "Portrait of a Woman, head resting on one hand" in lieu of inheritance tax after specifying that he wanted the Corot to be housed in the National Gallery of which he was a frequent visitor.
The Corot painting depicting a much detailed woman gazing in the distance dates from the last years of the artist's life. Not shown since 1962, when it had been on display at the Louvre, this painting once owned by the actor Edward G. Robinson until 1957 and then by the shipping magnate Stravos Niarchos was bought by Freud at an auction in 2001 and was hung on the top floor of his London house. It found its place in Room 41 of the National Gallery on February 4th whereas the three sculptures by Degas have been temporarily allocated to the Courtauld Gallery in London. Freud's gift to the nation represented a total of 2,34 million GBP worth of liabilities to inheritance tax. T
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