You might well enjoy this documentary on Freud by Jake Auerbach. (It gets better after the introduction when the sitters and children speak.) This man plainly did some damage. I wonder if the posted film will get taken down soon. An earlier film on Frank Auerbach was removed for licensing reasons.
[My friend was right, of course, and the clips (briefly posted here) were promptly taken down. So Lucian Freud's death was not in vain. It taught me to steer clear of posting YouTube clips. They are inherently unstable, as this blog is not.]
Later, I sent my friend an answering email:
Yes I watched the three clips, everybody talking as if L.F. were John Lennon. I think the aristocrats were the most believable because the fame thing didn't overawe them so much. The Duchess of Devonshire I know well by repute, Deborah Mitford, youngest of the six famous Mitford sisters, and herself a prolific writer. The Brigadier, Andrew Parker Bowles, was for most of their adult life the husband of Camilla Parker Bowles who is now married to Prince Charles (she was official Royal Mistress throughout the Prince's notorious first marriage). Hockney always comes across as purely stupid, I think he really honestly is that stupid. And then there were all those women – the daughters and lovers – used briefly (like paper tissues) and attempting to make the most of their moments in The Presence, oh dear oh dear. Francis Bacon did not hurt nearly so many people. He was certainly no more humane, but ended up doing less damage simply because he did not require live models (and did not father packs of children in whom he took no interest).