Bacon's Portrait of Lucian Freud to debut at Sotheby's Jubilee auction for US$42.9m

In celebration of the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II – marking her 70th

anniversary on the Throne, this week Sotheby's London will present a special auction

dedicated to the British art across 400 years.

Leading the festive sale will be Francis Bacon's large-scale portrait of his frenemy,

Study for Portrait of Lucian Freud, which illuminates the friendship

and rivalry between the two titans of British art.

Unseen for over half a century, the work is coming to auction for

the first time and expected to fetch in excess of £35 million (around US$42.9 million).

Also offered at the sale will be David Hockney's Woldgate Woods II, 16 & 17 May, 2006,