The sexy image of Nick Cave's naked wife which adorns the cover of his latest album was taken by accident, as his model partner was roaming around their home semi-clad for another photo shoot.

The Aussie rocker's wife Susie Bick appears nude on the cover art for Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' new album, Push The Sky Away.

But Cave insists the snap was no set-up, revealing his wife was walking through the room partly-dressed as she took pictures for a French magazine in another room of their home.

He tells Britain's The Sun, "That picture was not set up. It was taken in our bedroom by Dominique Issermann, the unbelievably brilliant French photographer, who was doing an editorial shoot of my wife for a French magazine.

"She was in between costumes, naked under a cape, when I walked in. She just said, 'Look, go over and open that window up'. As I went over to do it, she dropped the cape and Dominique took a few photographs. Later on, we saw this one and thought, 'Wow! What a strange, beautiful, ambiguous photograph.'"