Sleeping by the Lion Carpet (also known as Sue Tilley) 1996

Lucian Freud captured this intimate portrait of Sue Tilley, known as "Big Sue," sometime in the 1990s. Here, she is shown asleep in a chair against the backdrop of a tapestry depicting lions. The slumbering figure of Sue contrasts sharply with the tapestry behind her, where lions – symbols of power, courage, and vigilance – roam. Historically, lions have been associated with royalty and divinity, often guarding entrances to sacred spaces. Yet here, the lions seem to preside over a scene of quiet repose, a domestic interior where the sitter has succumbed to the vulnerability of sleep. We might recall similar contrasts in Renaissance depictions of Venus, often shown reclining in a landscape with symbols of her dominion over love and beauty. In Freud's work, however, the classical ideal is subverted. The emotional intensity of the artist's gaze invites us to contemplate the complex interplay between strength and vulnerability, protection and exposure, as these primal symbols of the lion coexist with the fallibility of human rest. The viewer becomes deeply engaged on a subconscious level. This cyclical progression of the lion as a symbol has resurfaced, evolved, and taken on new meanings in different historical contexts.