A nude picture of France's First Lady is expected to fetch a high price at auction
A nude picture of French First Lady Carla Bruni is expected to fetch a high price when it goes up for auction in Berlin next week.
Only ten numbered copies exist of the image of the French First Lady taken by U.S. photographer Pamela Hanson, and this one is being sold with a reserve price of around £3,000.
It was shot in 1994, at the height of Miss Bruni's modelling fame when she was 26 and dating rock legend Mick Jagger. The intimate bare-breasted image of the 41-year-old French president's wife is 16ft by 24ft and is entitled Carla Bruni In Bed.
Though risque, the picture is far less revealing than the full-frontal photo of her which fetched £60,000 a year ago. A nude sketch of Miss Bruni is also being sold in Paris next month as part of an exhibition of glamour girls called 'Pin-Up'.
President Nicolas Sarkozy is said to have 'no issue' with tastefully revealing images of his wife being made public. A source at the Elysée Palace told France's Le Post news website: 'He has made it clear he has no problem with this because he knows that the only images of his wife in existence are tasteful.
'Some may be nude, but she is a beautiful woman who was a model and only ever posed for pictures that had artistic merit.'
The photo will be sold at the Villa Grisebach Auction in Berlin on 4 June as part of a sale of Modern and Contemporary photographs. CLICK HERE FOR MORE WORLD NEWS
ARE YOU A TWITTERER? FOLLOW US HERE!
BECOME A MARIE CLAIRE FACEBOOK FAN HERE
