Another Dead Bat

Painted in 1980, Another Dead Bat forms part of the pantheon of animals Lucian Freud turned to as subjects throughout his life. A remarkable scaled depiction of a bat, the painting perfectly captures its small and delicate winged form. Rendered in an earthen palette with highlights of white, the tiny creature appears almost tactile, the soft tuft of fur on its grey belly enticing the finger to stroke its surface. The second of two paintings to depict this subject, Another Dead Bat was carried out in the artist's garden, laid supine in the earthy flowerbed amongst the fallen leaves. Inanimate, the animal recalls those early drawings and paintings of the 1940s including Rabbit on a Chair (1944), in which the artist rendered a dead rabbit delicately outstretched on a worn cane chair. Each fine detail of the creature is brought to the fore through Freud's prodigious draughtsmanship just as it is in Dead Heron (1945) painted the following year. In Another Dead Bat, this striking aptitude is evident in the faithful shape, tone and texture of the creature. Expertly modulated, the image is distilled into the very fabric of the impasto oil paint, using the same signature flourishes of the coarse hog's hair brush as employed in the artist's contemporary portraiture.

The 1980s saw Freud experiment with the possibilities of scale. Indeed, it was during this period that he carried out some of his greatest works, culminating in his monumental and widely acknowledged masterpiece, Large Interior W11 (After Watteau) (1981-1983). Enclosed within the artist's chosen frame, Another Dead Bat is perhaps best understood as a counterpoint to these large-scale depictions. A labour of resounding pleasure for Freud, this intimate painting afforded the artist the freedom to paint in exquisite detail, depicting one of the animals he so admired.