Freddie Mercury – Final portray Queen star purchased to stare upon in his ultimate weeks

During his brief 45 years, Freddie Mercury constructed a formidable non-public artwork assortment which is now on show to the general public for the following few weeks at Sotheby’s in London.

His former lover Mary Austin, to who he left his Garden Lodge home and its contents, is auctioning off the Queen singer’s possessions from early September.

Among the treasure trove of non-public results is the final portray the star bought.

Freddie purchased this paintings in query from Christie’s a month earlier than his demise from AIDS-related sickness on November 24, 1991.

The portrait is James-Jacques-Joseph Tissot’s Type of Beauty, which was painted in 1880 and is ready to promote at public sale for £400,000-600,000 subsequent month.

During a press tour of Sotheby’s Freddie Mercury: A World of His Own exhibition that Express.co.uk took half in, the auctioneer informed us: “One of the most special and moving items in the collection is this painting. This is Tissot’s portrait called Type of Beauty. It’s a portrait of his lover Kathleen Newton.

“Freddie bought this right at the end of his life and it was hung at Garden Lodge from where his sofa was, from where he was sitting. It was brought in and it was hung so he could gaze at it.

“I think he identified with Tissot. He was always interested in artists that perhaps were different and perhaps lived outside the normal realms of the societies that they inhabited. So I think possibly in Tissot we find a kindred spirit.”

The lot’s particulars on the Sotheby’s web site provides: “Freddie Mercury bought Type of Beauty on 25 October 1991, only a month before he died. Whether he knew the tragic story of Kathleen’s premature death and whether it struck a chord with his own waning health is not known, but he would certainly have responded to the themes of fashion and fame that are embodied in the painting.

“Kathleen’s flamboyant clothing, the nod to Japoniste taste suggested by the black fan and the blooming flowers surrounding her would have appealed to Freddie Mercury’s love of fashion, Japanese style and gardens.”

For extra info on the lot click on here.