When Michael Peppiatt stepped inside the French House, a dark, dank Soho pub, one busy lunchtime in June 1963, he could hardly have anticipated how life-changing an impact the next few hours would afford him.

The Hugh Lane gallery in Dublin is to exhibit material relating to the auction-smashing triptych of Lucian Freud by Francis Bacon.

It took less than five minutes to more than realise the price Christie’s auction house had hoped for, but Francis Bacon’s work has that affect on buyers.