thecages

Francis Bacon is my mother's favourite artist. I was always quite disturbed by this.
I still find his best known work (Study after Velazquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X) immensely disturbing.


There's something terrible and brutal about the composition; the cage, the (electric?) chair, the ghostly face. And let's not even mention the hollow scream - brrrr....

But only recently did I read an article that goes into the history of this portrait and the fact that it is actually part of a long-running series of studies.

Diego Velázquez[1] was commissioned to paint a portrait of Pope Innocent X in 1650 in Rome. By varying accounts Innocent was a archetypal emperor-pope of that era:

Innocent X was a lover of justice and his life was blameless; he was, however, often irresolute and suspicious. The great blemish in his pontificate was his dependence on Donna Olimpia Maidalchini, the wife of his deceased brother. For a short time her influence had to yield to that of the youthful Camillo Astalli, a distant relative of the pope, whom Innocent raised to the cardinalate. But the pope seemed to be unable to get along without her, and at her instance Astalli was deprived of the purple and removed from the Vatican. The accusation, made by Gualdus (Leti) in his "Vita di Donna Olimpia Maidalchini" (1666), that Innocent's relation to her was immoral, has been rejected as slanderous by all reputable historians.

INNOCENT X . (Giovanni Battista Pamfili) was born in Rome on the 6th of May 1574, served successively as auditor of the Rota nuncio to
Naples, legate apostolic to Spain, was made cardinal in 1627, and succeeded Urban VIII. as pope on the 15th of September 1644.
Throughout his pontificate Innocent was completely dominated by his sister-in-law, Donna Olimpia Maidalchini, a woman of masculine spirit. There is no reason to credit the scandalous reports of an illicit attachment.
Nevertheless, the influence of Donna Olimpia was baneful; and she made herself thoroughly detested for her inordinate ambition and rapacity. Urban VIII. had been French in his sympathies; but the papacy now shifted to the side of the Habsburgs, and there remained for nearly fifty years.
Evidences of the change were numerous: Innocent promoted pro-Spanish cardinals; attacked the Barberini, proteges of Mazarin, and sequestered their possessions; aided in quieting an insurrection in Naples, fomented by the duke of Guise; and refused to recognize the independence of Portugal, then at war with Spain.
As a reward he obtained from Spain and Naples the recognition of ecclesiastical immunity.
In 1649 Castro, which Urban VIII. had failed to take, was wrested from the Farnese and annexed to the Papal States.

When Velázquez painted his portrait of Innocent was 76 years old and had been pope for 6 years.
It depicts the most powerful man in the world, at ease in his position as God's representative on earth.
But there is nothing innocent about him; he holds a letter in his hand[2] and there is an unmistakable ruthlessness, a deep deceit.



Clearly there is a lot to work with here; power, corruption, sex - hidden facets of a public man.

Francis Bacon painted the first of this long-running series in 1946, though the oldest remaining painting is from 1949.
It captures the central motif of the series; the grotesque, dark mouth.
Something horrendous trapped inside the man[3] is forcing its way out into the world.
He may have been able to contain the monster in his gut for Velazquez's rendering - but Bacon's not having any of that shit.



Several more studies/versions follow. They vary in mood and colour and emphasise different aspects of the original portait; the chair, the dress[4]. All of them are disturbing.












Somehow I find the series of paintings less disturbing than the superstar 1953 portrait on its own.
It's good to see that Bacon maintained a fascination and some sort of personal relationship with Ol' Innocent as he burnt him hell.


[1] a Spanish artist of the Baroque period
[2] some business matter to be attended to
[3] criminal lies? guilt? some terrible truth?
[4] one commentary suggests that Bacon presents the pope in drag - funny