Francis Bacon was fascinated by portrayals of the Pope and returned to the theme repeatedly over a twenty-year period of his career. ‘Study for a Pope I’, a dramatic reinterpretation of Diego Velázquez's ‘Portrait of Pope Innocent X’ painted in 1961 for the artist’s career retrospective at the Tate the following year, is one of the highlights of our Contemporary Art Evening Auction in London on 1 July 2015.
