Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X
- Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X
Infobox Painting|
| title=Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X, 1953
artist=Francis Bacon
year=1953
type=Oil on canvas
height=153
width=118
height_inch=60
width_inch =46
museum=Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa
Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X, 1953 is a painting by the Irish-born artist Francis Bacon. The work shows a distorted version of the Portrait of Innocent X painted by the Spanish artist Diego Velázquez in 1650.
The work is one of a series of variants of the Velázquez painting which Bacon executed throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, over a total of forty-five works. [Schmied, p. 17.] When asked why he was compelled to revisit the subject so often, Bacon replied that he had nothing against the Popes, that he merely "wanted an excuse to use these colours, and you can't give ordinary clothes that purple colour without getting into a sort of false fauve manner." [Peppiatt, p. 147.]
In this version, the Pope's jaw drops very low in what appears somewhat as a scream, but this is silenced by the surrounding features and colors. These dark colors give the image a grotesque and nightmarish appearance. [Schmied, p. 20.] The pleated curtains of the backdrop are rendered transparent, and seem to fall through the Pope's face. [Peppiatt, p. 148.]
Notes
Printed sources
* Davis, Hugh & Yard, Sally. "Francis Bacon". (New York) Cross River Press, 1986. ISBN 0-8965-9447-8
* Peppiatt, Michael. "Anatomy of an Enigma". Westview Press, 1996. ISBN 0-8133-3520-5
* Schmied, Wieland. "Francis Bacon: Commitment and Conflict". Munich: Prestel, 1996. ISBN 3-7913-1664-8
External links
* [http://www.francis-bacon.cx/popes/ A gallery of several Innocent X paintings by Bacon]
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