Bacon's papal portrait seeks a second chance on the market
Francis Bacon - Study of Red Pope 1962 2nd version 1971
Next May 19, 2022, Sotheby's New York will offer Francis Bacon's "Study of Red Pope 1962, 2nd version 1971", which returns to the market after its failed sale five years ago.
Image:  Francis Bacon, "Study of Red Pope 1962, 2nd version 1971". Oil on canvas, 198 x 147.5 cm). © Francis Bacon Estate
The last time "Study of Red Pope 1962, 2nd version 1971" came up for auction (Christie's London, October 2017), it did so with the highest estimated pre-sale price ever assigned to a work of art at auction in Europe, between £60 million and £80 million, driven by the extraordinary strength of the art market (a few weeks later the "Salvator Mundi" attributed to Leonardo would achieve the highest price ever paid for a work of art), by the increasing interest that Bacon arouses at auction (four years earlier his "Three Studies of Lucian Freud" had been auctioned for a then record $142 million), and possibly inspired by the successful precedent of another papal portrait by Bacon, the "Study from Innocent X" sold in 2007 for $52.7 million, then a record for a work by Bacon.
But despite expectations, the work failed to meet its minimum asking price, in what was perhaps the art market's biggest disappointment in a year full of successes.
Now, the work is changing auction house and city, and, carrying a much more conservative presale estimate (between $40 million and $60 million, just over half that of 2017), the painting is back on the market. Described by Sotheby's as "a masterpiece and a triumphant end to the artist's acclaimed papal portraits," the painting includes two of the recurring muses in Bacon's career -the Pope and George Dyer- but objectively it is a less important work than the aforementioned "Study from Innocent X" painted in 1962.
Last November, Phillips auctioned in New York another papal portrait by Bacon for $33 million, somewhat below expectations. One month and a half ago, "Triptych 1986-7" -one of the last triptychs created by Francis Bacon- was sold at Christie's for £35 million, its most conservative pre-sale estimate.

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