Morgan O'Driscoll Irish & International Art Auction 29th April 2019

I rish & I nternational A rt M onday 29 th A pril 2019 at 6.00 pm 83 63 Francis Bacon (1909-1992) Second Version of Painting 1946 (1971) signed in felt-tip pen ‘Frances Bacon’ lower right and numbered 101/150 lower left lithograph in colours on arches paper signed and numbered 101 from an edition of 150, published by Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf; 80.80 x 58.90cm (31.75 x 23.25in) Provenance: Nicholas Gallery, Belfast (label verso); Private Collection Literature: Bruno Sabatier 31 Alexandre Tacou 1 €10,000-€15,000 ($11,235-$16,853) (£8,474-£12,711) Created in the immediate aftermath of World War II, Painting was an oblique but damning image of an anonymous public figure. Half-obscured by an umbrella, he is dressed in a formal manner with a bowler hat resting on his knee like the politicians of the day. But his sinister grimace suggests a deep brutality beneath his proper exterior. The sense of menace is accentuated by glar- ing colours and the cow carcasses suspended in a cruciform behind him, a motif drawn from Bacon’s childhood fascination with butcher shops, but also a possible reference to Old Master treatments of the same subject. The image is one of the Artist’s most iconic and Bacon himself described the work as his most unconscious. The original of Paint- ing, 1946, hangs in the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York. Francis Bacon’s work is represented in the permanent collections of most major museums and public galleries around the world.