© Frank Auerbach, courtesy Marlborough Fine Art

This work is a study for the painting of the same name. Auerbach has said of his morning drawing routine in London: ‘I go out each morning and I draw. I can’t really start on a painting in the morning until I’ve done a drawing [...] I feel dissatisfied with what I’m doing, so I go out and once I’ve been provided with a reason for changing my picture I can come back to the studio and change it – usually it is a new sensation of proportion or connection, often revealed by light’.