Frank Auerbach: how artist drew himself for Covid ‘plague years’ drawings

The renowned British artist found inspiration in his own features after the pandemic left him without sitters

What do you do when you are a portrait painter but can't get anyone to sit for you? Frank Auerbach, once described by the Tate as one of the greatest painters alive today", has come up with an answer he didn't expect to find. At 91, he has painted himself - and it's all thanks to Covid.

For decades, the painter and draughtsman has had friends and family sit for his portraits every week - until the lockdowns left him without any sitters. Instead, he found inspiration in his own features for a major series of self-portraits. He told the Observer that, while he had previously been uninterested in his own face, ageing has made it much more compelling.