Moss: Motherhood memorabilia

London, Feb. 9 (Reuters): A painting of naked and pregnant supermodel Kate Moss by one of Britain?s greatest living artists, Lucian Freud, is expected to fetch up to ?3.5 million ($6.5 million) when it goes under the hammer.

The painting, Naked Portrait 2002, has never been exhibited in public before.

?Naked Portrait 2002 is one of only a few portraits the artist has painted of well-known or famous people,? auctioneer Christie?s said in a statement.

?In this case Freud?s sitter is, with the possible exception of Queen Elizabeth II, probably the most famous figure ever to be painted by the artist.?

Freud, the grandson of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, once said he disliked painting models as ?they?ve grown another skin because they?ve been looked at so much?.

He turned down the chance to paint the late Princess Diana, saying he couldn?t get past ?that sheen of glamour? in order to ?get at the real person?.

The full-length painting shows the pregnant Moss, reclining on a bed with her left arm across a pillow.

?The normally waif-like Moss is here presented as an imposing physical presence, looking both more corporeal and physically substantial than any fashion photograph would, or could, ever show,? Christie?s said.

The British model herself suggested the collaboration after saying in a magazine article that one of her remaining ambitions was to be painted by Freud.

Freud, who also painted Texan model Jerry Hall when she was pregnant, began the work in 2001 and it took almost a year of sittings to complete it.