My Mother the Spider.

A giant sculpture of a spider by Louise Bourgeois, similar to one which has been luring the crowds to Tate Modern on London's South Bank, has been donated to the gallery by its creator and an anonymous benefactor.

Bourgeois' nine-metre-high work, titled Maman, was part of Bourgeois' inaugural commission for The Unilever Series in the Turbine Hall in 2000.

A smaller version is currently on display outside the gallery as part of the Bourgeois retrospective.

According to the BBC, Tate Modern director Vicente Todoli considers this "an historic moment".

'ONE OF THE WORLD'S GREATEST LIVING SCULPTORS.'

He said: "To acquire Maman, one of Louise Bourgeois' best-known and seminal works, the largest of her spider sculptures, is an historic moment for Tate. This work significantly enhances our holdings of the work of one of the world's greatest living sculptors."

It is the largest spider work made by ninety-six-years-old French-born artist, who also cast six bronzes from the original.

Bourgeois, who now lives in New York, made a series of attention-getting spider sculptures in the Nineteen-Nineties.

She has described the steel and bronze piece as "an ode to my mother, my best friend".

'LIKE SPIDERS, MY MOTHER WAS VERY CLEVER.'

She added: "Like spiders, my mother was very clever. Spiders are friendly presences that eat mosquitoes."

"We know that mosquitoes spread diseases and are therefore unwanted. So, spiders are helpful and protective, just like my mother."

The retrospective, simply titled Louise Bourgeois, runs until the Twentieth of January.