Room 8 Benefits Supervisor Resting 1994 Sue Tilley, who modelled for this painting, was introduced to Freud by Leigh Bowery, who had sat regularly for him in the early 1990s. Sue was an official at the DHSS; she was understandably nervous about sitting for Freud, although she became more confident as she got to know him. She was relieved when Freud bought a sofa especially for her to pose on, as modelling sessions for an earlier painting had involved her lying on bare wooden floorboards in a very uncomfortable position. Freud has said of Sue that he was 'very aware of all kinds of spectacular things to do with her size, like amazing craters and things one's never seen before', though he also admitted 'I have perhaps a predilection towards people of unusual or strange proportions, which I don't want to over-indulge'. Audio Clip