The sale of the Lewis collection continues with Sotheby's announcing it will auction Lucian Freud's Sleeping by the Lion Carpet next month.
The portrait of Sue Tilley, who posed for some of his most celebrated works, is expected to fetch around $45 million.
It was bought by British businessman and collector Joe Lewis from Freud’s gallerist Bill Acquavella in 1996 and has never before been offered on the open market.
Sotheby's European chairman Oliver Barker said Freud was the "lifeblood" of the Lewis collection, saying the family had "an instinctive understanding of what it is that makes Freud a giant among artists".
The auction house previously sold works from the collection including Leon Kossoff's painting Children’s Swimming Pool, 11 o’clock Saturday Morning, August (1969) which set a new record for the artist when it sold for $6.99m with fees.
The Freud is part of a London sale of a group of works including paintings by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Francis Bacon which is expected to fetch more than $200 million.