Francis Bacon's 'Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X' Analyzed in Great Art Explained Video
A new episode of the YouTube series 'Great Art Explained' by gallerist James Payne examines Francis Bacon's 1953 painting 'Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X.' The video traces Bacon's difficult childhood, his exposure to Berlin and Paris in the 1920s, and influences from films like 'Metropolis,' 'Battleship Potemkin,' and Abel Gance's 'Napoleon,' as well as paintings by Pablo Picasso. Bacon avoided formal art school. The painting deconstructs Diego Velázquez's portrait of Pope Innocent X, which the pope himself called 'troppo vero' (too true). Bacon never saw the original Velázquez in Rome, working instead from a small, washed-out copy. The analysis connects Bacon's work to twentieth-century mass media and his Irish, English, and European historical contexts.
Key facts
- James Payne hosts the 'Great Art Explained' YouTube series.
- The video focuses on Francis Bacon's 1953 painting 'Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X'.
- Bacon had a difficult childhood and felt like an outsider.
- He experienced Berlin and Paris in the 1920s.
- Bacon was influenced by films 'Metropolis', 'Battleship Potemkin', and 'Napoleon', and by Picasso.
- Bacon never attended art school.
- The painting is a deconstruction of Velázquez's portrait of Pope Innocent X.
- Pope Innocent X described Velázquez's original as 'troppo vero'.
- Bacon never saw the original Velázquez painting; he used a copy of a copy.
- The analysis places Bacon within 20th-century mass media and historical contexts.
Entities
Artists
- Francis Bacon
- Pablo Picasso
- Diego Velázquez
- Pope Innocent X
- James Payne
Institutions
- Great Art Explained
- Open Culture
Locations
- Berlin
- Paris
- Rome
- Ireland
- England
- Europe
- Seoul
- South Korea