An archive of 11 letters by painter Lucian Freud is valued at £3,000-5,000 ($4,916-8,194) ahead of an auction at Sotheby's on February 14.

The letters, selling as a single lot, were written to Freud's first girlfriend and fellow art student, Felicity Hellaby -  the subject of some of his earliest works - in the early 1940s.  

The letters were written by Lucian Freud to his first girlfriend in the early 1940s

Oliver Barker, Sotheby's senior international specialist for contemporary art, commented: "These charming letters reveal the energy, determination, and to some extent, the naivety, of Freud as a young man.

"Written in the years while he was studying at the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing, they offer a compelling view of his artistic practice and although often playful and light-hearted, hint at a very real sense of ambition."

Freud's Head on a Green Sofa will auction at Sotheby's on February 12. Another letter from Freud outlining his artistic intentions is to auction at Bonhams in March.

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