A pair of gloves artist Francis Bacon wore while painting will sell at Chiswick Auctions on June 7.

They date to 1969, when Bacon was renting a studio at the Royal College of Art after a fire ripped through his home.

Francis Bacon wore a glove on his left hand while painting

Bacon wiped his brush on the left handed gloves while painting.

When he left a few months later, Bateson Mason - a tutor at the college, was cleaning out the studio when he found them.

Mason writes in a note accompanying the gloves: "Wednesday. John Souvenir !! These Really ARE Francis Bacon's Painting Gloves! He finished working at our place this morning and amongst the rubbish I actually found them!!! I felt sure they would appeal to you. Yrs. P.S. 2 left hands?"

Bacon wore these gloves when he painted his monumental Three Studies for a Portrait of Lucian Freud.

It made a world record $142.4m at Christie's in 2013 and remains his most valuable work.

Jan Leman, a spokesperson for the auction house, says: "It is always thrilling to witness any tangible links to the great artists of our time and this is no exception.

"We have already seen great interest from art collectors and museums around the globe, who are keen to attain a keepsake and personal insight into one of the most celebrated British artists of our time."

The gloves are expected to make around £5,000-7,000 ($7,319-10,246).

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