Francis Bacon’s pope as “tragic hero”

In November last year, Three Studies of Lucian Freud, a triptych painting by Irish-born British artist Francis Bacon sold at Christie's, New York for $142.4 million (€114 million), setting a new world auction record price for a work.

One year on and another major portrait by Francis Bacon is among the highlights of the ‘Post-War and Contemporary Art’ auction at Christie’s, New York on Wednesday evening, November 12th.

Painted in 1960, Seated Figure (Red Cardinal), with a top estimate of $60 million, is one of a series of paintings by the artist based on his notorious obsession with a 17th century Spanish painting, Portrait of Pope Innocent X, by Velazquez.

Unlike some of the artist’s earlier versions – popularly known as the “screaming pope” paintings – Christie’s said Bacon, in this instance, “presents the image of the Pope as a tragic hero brought low by the external forces around him”. The pontiff is “transfixed and introspective”. The “luxuriant swathes of cream, violet, and aquamarine form the Pope’s features, highlighted by delicate gossamer-like sweeps of pure, bright white that form the folds of his silk cloaks”.