Innocent X as portrayed by Francis Bacon

Claude Gauthier
Dec 30, 2024
2 min read

Innocent X

Everyone can appreciate a conversation with a second degree, the hidden messages, the double meanings from which the subtlety of language emerges.

What should we say about the vision of a portrait in the third degree? Here is an example

Saguenay author Larry Tremblay offers us a convincing illustration of this. In his book " Tableau final de l'amour " published in September 2021, we have a brilliant example. This book drawn from his imagination tells, on a fictional basis, episodes from the life of the painter Francis Bacon . Through Tremblay's imaginative power, we become aware of Bacon's many paintings illustrating Pope Innocent X. Bacon took up the distressing portrait of Innocent X on several occasions and over several years, giving him a personality of his own.

Bacon himself had drawn his inspiration from the Spanish painter Diego Velazquez , who in 1650 created a portrait commissioned by Pope Innocent X. When presented with the painting, the latter refused it, alleging that the representation was too human (i.e. too real). He would have preferred a more spiritual interpretation.

Many critics and artists consider this painting by Velázquez to be the most exquisite portrait ever created.

The portrait of Innocent X produced by the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez in 1650

Velazquez painted the picture so meticulously that Innocent X found it too lifelike. He could not bear to be confronted with the truth of his human condition. He would have preferred to perceive a hint of grace worthy of his papal function. He saw only a human with snarling features, dressed in sumptuous priestly garments. With this painting, Velazquez had masterfully extracted the intrinsic humanity of the character.

According to Larry Tremblay's interpretation, speaking through Francis Bacon's vision, Bacon's portrayal is fascinating and appalling. Without being able to express the source of these emotions, the portrait bewitches, disgusts and shakes him.

The representation of Innocent X according to the vision of Francis Bacon, inspired by the work of Velázquez

This vision represents Bacon's struggle. For more than 20 years, he struggled to break it down, isolate its elements and recreate, piece by piece, a distorted image. He wanted to represent centuries of usurped moral authority, a great collective anger held back for too long.

Velázquez's painting is often cited as the most accomplished portrait in the history of art.

Bacon's portrayal made it a highly personal representation.

Bacon sometimes mentioned that this nightmarish scream also represented his unhealthy relationship with sexuality and the physical and psychological abuse that his father inflicted on him. The author Larry Tremblay takes up this line of interpretation in his novel.