Nothing had been discussed, I just assumed I would be naked. I got undressed and asked him what he would like me to do. He said it was up to me.

In Naked Portrait Rose Boyt explores her complicated relationship with her beloved father, Lucian Freud, drawing on a diary she kept while sitting for him and which she found five years after his death. Enthralled by his genius, she remembered as uncontentious and amusing all the extraordinary stories he told her to keep her entertained in the studio, but the shock of the truth is profound when she looks back. What emerges is her compassion and love not just for herself as a vulnerable young woman but for the man himself, in all his brilliant complexity.

‘Packed to the rafters with wisdom and insight, this immersive account of being the child of a genius is, itself, a work of art’ – Frances Wilson, The Telegraph ‘Books of the Year’

‘Beyond the father-daughter dynamic is an evocative tale of coming of age in London in the 1980s, one marked by grief, bad boyfriends, sexual compromises and camaraderie. So much life worth telling, out beyond the shadows of great men’ – Hettie Judah, The Times Literary Supplement

‘The unexpected miracle of the book is its emotional complexity’ – Claire Dederer, The Guardian

‘I can’t think of an art book with an opening page like it. Lines land like detonation . . . The writing is hypnotic and propulsive . . . It’s so powerful, so horrible, the set-up compelling.’ – The Sunday Times

Cleaning the studio made me feel special, downtrodden and loved for all the wrong reasons. The floor was marked with a brush and thinned paint to establish the position of any furniture that was in use, the painted hieroglyphics of no particular colour but indelible so that everything could be repositioned and put back between sittings, all the functional lines alive and purposeful like his handwriting.

In Naked Portrait Rose Boyt explores her complicated relationship with her beloved father, Lucian Freud, through her diary and other accounts of sitting for him, naked or otherwise. Enthralled by his genius, it was only after his death that she began to question the version of events she had come to accept. The shock of the truth is profound but what emerges is her love and compassion not just for herself as a vulnerable young woman, but for the man himself, who is shown in all his brilliant complexity.