Lucian Freud donates painting to the nation

The late artist Lucian Freud has expressed his gratitude to Great Britain for welcoming his family when they arrived in the country as refugees, by leaving a treasured Corot portrait to the nation.

Freud was born in Berlin, but moved with his Jewish family to London in 1933, aged 11, in order to escape the rise of Nazism. He became a British citizen in 1939 and went on to become one of the finest painters the UK has seen during the last century. He died aged 88 in July 2011.

Freud purchased L'Italienne ou La Femme à la Manche Jaune (The Italian Woman, or Woman with Yellow Sleeve) by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot (about 1870) at an auction in 2001, and hung the work on the top floor of his London home. In his will, Freud specified he wanted to leave the painting to the nation under the Acceptance in Lieu (AIL) scheme and for it to have its new home in the National Gallery as a thank you to the country which welcomed his family so warmly and where the painting could be enjoyed by so many over future generations.

The Corot has been allocated to the National Gallery by Arts Council England under the Acceptance in Lieu scheme, which allows people to transfer works of art and important heritage objects into public ownership in lieu of inheritance tax.

‘L'Italienne ou La Femme à la Manche Jaune’ has not been exhibited in public for more than 60 years - it was last seen in a show at the Louvre, Paris in 1962.