Francis Bacon (1909-1992)
Seated Figure (Red Cardinal) Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2014. UPDATE: IT MADE $44,965,000
A major work by Francis Bacon based on his obsession with the Velazquez Portrait of Pope Innocent X will highlight Christie’s evening sale of Post War and Contemporary art in New York on November 12. Seated Figure (Red Cardinal) is an exceptional example of Bacon’s painterly practice and a rare outing at auction for a major painting from his Papal Series. Painted in 1960 it is estimated at $40-60 million. All of Bacon’s pope figures stem from his obsession with the 1650 portrait of Pope Innocent X by Diego Velazquez. He is quoted as saying that he was overwhelmed by the image and by reproductions of it.
In this work Bacon presents the pope as a tragic hero brought low by the external forces around him.
In New York last November Christie’s sold Bacon’s Three Studies for Lucian Freud for $142,405,000, setting a new world record for any work of art ever sold at auction.
UPDATE: IT MADE $44,965,000