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A painting by artist Francis Bacon of the woman he said was his only female lover is expected to fetch up to �2m at auction on Monday. Bacon's Three Studies of Isabel Rawsthorne, painted in 1966, is part of Christie's post-war and contemporary art sale in London.
An artist herself, Rawsthorne was one of Bacon's lifelong friends.
Bacon told French magazine Paris Match the pair were lovers, and she was the only woman he had a relationship with.
Rawsthorne was born in 1912 in the east end of London and studied at Liverpool School of Art and the Royal Academy.
She became known as an artist's model and had relationships with several artists, including Sir Jacob Epstein, with whom she had a child.
She also lived for a time in Paris and had a relationship with the artist Derain.
During her time there, she was also painted by Pablo Picasso.
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