Perienne is Lucian Freud’s latest muse

Lucian Freud (pictured) has added another girl to his growing list of muses - a young artist named Perienne Christian who is expected to earn the artist £15m when the painting goes to auction.

The 25-year-old brunette, who has been posing nude for the 86-year-old for over a year, told the London Evening Standard how she came to be Freud's latest source of inspiration after she was approached by a tutor at the Prince's Drawing School in Hackney where she was trained. Catherine Goodman told the young artist that Freud was looking for a model and quickly arranged a breakfast meeting for the two to get acquainted.

"I met Lucian for breakfast…Then I waited to hear back. It must have been later that day when the lady who organised the meeting called me to say he wanted to go to ahead."

Christian, who attended the Leipzig Academy of Art in 2005 before undertaking further training in Hackney, has been sitting for the artist in his west London flat ever since and the pair have struck up a friendship. Just last week, Freud accompanied Christian to a private dinner hosted by Lanvin, the French fashion house, to mark the opening of its London store. Perienne denies that their relationship is anything but professional.

Freud has had a series of formidable women, including his wife and daughter, pose for him over the years. Texan supermodel Jerry Hall stripped off for the artist, while his depiction of Kate Moss naked and pregnant drew £3.93m at auction in 2005.

In 1995, Sue Tilley, a 20-stone benefit office supervisor famously caught the artist's eye and prompted him to paint her in the buff while sleeping on sofa. Tilley may have appeared to be a somewhat unlikely muse but "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping" was snapped up by Roman Abramovich for a hefty £17.2m last year.