Pope I - Study after Pope Innocent X by Velazquez

Artist Francis Bacon (Dublin, Ireland, 1909 - 1992)

Associated Pope Innocent X (Rome, Italy, 1574 - 1655)

Date1951

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationsPaintings And Drawings

DimensionsOverall: Height: 197.8 cm, Width: 137.4 cm
Frame: Height: 217.2 cm, Width: 156 cm, Depth: 9 cm

AcquisitionPresented in 1956 by the Contemporary Art Society.

LocationOn Display - Gallery 18

Object numberABDAG002364

Keywords

About MeFrancis Bacon is one of the most important figurative painters of the twentieth century. He received no formal art training and took up painting after seeing a Picasso exhibition in Paris in 1928.

'Pope I' was the first painting in a series of three, which formed Bacon's first completed series of popes. Painting images of the head of the Catholic Church became an obsession for Bacon for more than twenty years. The artist drew his inspiration from the portrait of Pope Innocent X painted in 1650 by the Spanish artist, Diego Velazquez. Bacon never actually saw the original painting in Rome, but rather worked from numerous reproductions of the famous image.
More About Me

Collections Wall

There are around 50 works in Bacon’s series of Pope paintings. He claimed he had nothing against popes, but merely sought "an excuse to use these colours”. Do you believe him?

Exhibitions

Gallery 18 - People & Portraits