Francis Bacon on Velazquez Week!
Velazquez influenced many a painter. For Sargent–technique, color, and the casual arrangement of multigroup figures. Goya, glowing highlights and subtle gradations of color. “I have found in him,” Manet once said, “my ideal of painting.” And then there is Bacon.
“Study after Velazquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X”
From 1949 to the mid 1950s, Francis Bacon, a British painter (and one of my favorites), did a series known as “The Screaming Popes” where he did several “nightmarish” versions of Diego Velazquez’s “Portrait of Pope Innocent X“.
Here are a few:
“Head Surrounded by Sides of Beef”
It was suggested that he was suggesting that we were all carcasses. I think he was playing with the idea of his last name being Bacon. Also that cows have prizes inside them, if you consider popes to be prize-like.
“Study for a Pope III”
One of the things the Bacon is known for is his reformation and torture of the flesh. In “Study for a Pope III”, a steamroller to the hand was his choice of torture.
“Study of Red Pope”
One of Bacon’s reoccurring elements would be portraits of those close to him. “If they were not my friends,” said the Bacon, “I could not do such violence to them.” “Study of Red Pope” I believe contains a George Dyer.
More exciting than sharks you say? Good. Let’s trek along this week for our next Velazquez find.
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