London, Apr 12 : A life-size painting depicting a Jobcentre supervisor, by British artist Lucian Freud is expected to fetch the highest ever auction price for a work by a living artist when it goes under the hammer next month.

Auction house Christie's estimates that the painting, titled 'Big Sue,' will rake in 18 million pounds at the auction in New York on May 13.

The picture depicts a fat Jobcentre supervisor Sue Tilley, who posed for the picture in 1995, snoozing naked on a dilapidated old sofa.

"I think he picked me because he got value for money. He got a lot of flesh!" The Sun quoted Tilley as saying.

The current auction record for a picture by a living artist is Hanging Heart, by Jeff Koons, which sold for 11.3m pounds in November 2007.

Christie's described the piece as "a bold and imposing example of the stark power of Freud's realism".

ANI