Musicians’ muse Pattie Boyd auctions love letters from Eric Clapton and George Harrison

LONDON — Love letters to Pattie Boyd from both George Harrison and Eric Clapton are going up for sale at Christie’s auction house, alongside clothing, jewelry and other memorabilia from the renowned model and musicians’ muse. Boyd, who was previously married both to Beatle Harrison and to guitar legend Clapton, is selling a trove of items from her time at the epicenter of the 1960s and 70s counterculture, Christie’s announced Monday. Clapton’s passion for his friend’s wife inspired the scorching “Layla.” Later, when Boyd had left Harrison and married Clapton, he serenaded her with “Wonderful Tonight.” The auction includes two love letters from Clapton, written while Boyd was married to Harrison, and the original cover artwork for Derek and The Dominos’ 1970 album “Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs,” a painting of a blonde model who reminded Clapton of Boyd. Christie’s head of sale Adrian Hume-Sayer said Boyd’s life and career “chart some of the key moments of the cultural revolution that changed the world in the 1960s,” and the auction offered collectors and fans “an unparalleled chance to see and own a piece of cultural history.” The more than 100 lots include photos taken by Boyd, who became an accomplished photographer, among them images of The Beatles’ 1968 stay at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram in India.