Annie Battista
March 28, 2009
AP Art History
The word “sacred”, as defined by Encarta Dictionaries, means “worthy of or regarded with religious veneration, worship, and respect” or “not to be challenged or disrespected.” A portrait of a pope could easily be categorized into the categories of a “sacred” or “religious” work. However, what if that pope uses his power wrongly? Is a portrait of him still sacred, or is it profane? Profanity is defined as “not connected with or used for religious matters” or “showing disrespect for God, any deity, or religion.” In order to answer the question, “Are the portraits of Pope Innocent X sacred or profane?”, one must first address the sacredness of the pope himself.
The truth is Pope Innocent X was not sacred or religious, at least in deed. He contradicted the very teachings that he preached. He was conceited, vengeful, selfish, dishonest and materialistic. He used his power as a religious leader to punish Francesco Barberini, whom he had a personal animosity for. He destroyed the entire city of Castro, killing hundreds of innocent citizens while doing so, just to further his revenge on the Barberini family. Guido Reni’s painting, The Archangel Michael, (fig.1) was painting in response to Innocent’s vengeful destruction of Castro. The archangel is stomping on the head of Satan, who has the unmistakable facial features of Pope Innocent X.
Reni’s work was not the only portrayal of Pope Innocent X. Diego Velazquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X (fig. 2) was painted in 1650. At first glance, this portrait could come across as being a standard depiction of a Catholic religious leader. However, it is anything but that. Velazquez portrayed Pope Innocent as he really is: callous and powerful. People who saw the painting feared that the pope would punish him for portraying the pope as grimacing. The irony of it all is that the Pope gave Velazquez special favor for his work and had it hung in his official visitor’s waiting room. Francis Bacon said of Velazquez’s work that he “found the perfect balance between the ideal illustration which he was required to produce and the overwhelming emotion he aroused in the spectator. This painting illustrates the great power that art is capable of. It was done in the most subtle of ways, but Velazquez forces the viewer to see who the subject of the painting really is. It forces the viewer to acknowledge that the pope should not be considered sacred simply because of his title, but he should be judged upon the content of his character. “Velazquez found a way to “stick his thumb in the eye” of the papacy and Bacon found a way to shove that thumb in even further. Velazquez inspired Bacon’s whole series of “Screaming Popes”.
Perhaps it was Francis Bacon’s tumultuous childhood that made him into the type of artist that he became. He was born October 28, 1909 in Dublin, Ireland to Winnie and Eddy Bacon. They were a well-to-do family and lived in beautiful homes. Francis was a sickly child, having asthma and intense allergies to dogs and horses. The family shifted houses often between Ireland and England, leaving Francis with a feeling of displacement. He was a painfully shy child, but he found comfort in the realm of femininity. He enjoyed dressing up as a woman, which enraged his father. In 1926 his father kicked him out of the after finding Francis admiring himself in a mirror wearing his mothers underwear. He lived of a small allowance from his mother, but sometimes that still was not enough. However, it is in this time that Bacon truly began coming into his own as a person. It may be because he felt a connection with the harsh nature of the streets after being treated so judgmentally by his father. Whatever the reason, Bacon has always been attracted to “profane” or cruel things. He was especially influenced by Nicholas Poussin’s Massacre of the Innocents. (fig. 3) That painting illustrates the mass infanticide committed by King Herod in the village of Bethlehem during the birth of Christ. Francis Bacon may have identified with that painting because of his strained relationship with his father. His dark paintings reflect the darkness and suppressed nature of his childhood.
The earliest surviving work in his “Screaming Heads” series is Head IV (fig. 4). It captures all of the silent angst of his childhood. His true personality was suppressed by his father so he was forced to express himself in secrecy. The screaming head of a pope seems to really connect with Francis. Popes are supposed to fit into one category and they have to follow so many rules set for them by tradition. Francis was just a boy, but his father was constantly pressuring him to be someone he was not- a typical Irish/English boy. Francis was too eclectic for that. This painting illustrates all the suppressed angst that is built up in him. Why is he “abnormal”? Why is the world so cruel and judgmental? The screaming head in the painting is enclosed in what seems to be a glass cage. In a way, this illustration of the pope is the illustration of the whole world. People are born to be different from one another, but society has deemed that conformity and “normalcy” are the best and only acceptable ways of living.
Francis’ Second Version of “Study for a Red Pope 1962” (fig. 5) depicts the image of Pope Innocent X and a window with a business man in it. Both the pope and the business man have the same sort of distortion to their faces, which symbolizes their similarities. The business man is looking into the portrait of the pope and seeing that they are the same. Though the subjects of the painting are from different eras, they are both effective representations of hypocrisy and materialism and power.
Perhaps Bacon’s most striking painting of the whole series is his work Study after Velazquez’s Pope Innocent X. (fig. 6) He seats the Pope in a cage of shadows and strips him of his humanity as though saying, “This man is not worth the status of a human.” Instead he portrays Innocent as a ghost-like, skeletal being trapped in his hypocrisy and addiction to power. He portrayed Innocent as being parallel to his title of Pope, as being the definition of profane: showing disrespect to God. Francis Bacon’s paintings are more than the portrayal of one man’s corruption: they are the portrayal of society’s corruption. His paintings of popes that lived hundreds of years ago are still prevalent in today’s society. Bacon was always amazed at the capacity that human beings have to tolerate and generate cruelty and his work reflected that. His paintings leave you feeling uneasy and shaken. Is it because of the eerie hue of the painting? Or is it the screaming of the pope? Or maybe even the flagrant disregard for religious protocol? Perhaps it is all of those reasons, but perhaps it is that the paintings challenge the viewer to see themselves in Pope Innocent. It challenges them to see the hypocrisy in their own lives, which is something that people rarely even think they have. They think that by going to church or sending their kids to religious schools they are better than others, or that will assure them a spot in heaven. However, they, like Pope Innocent X, hardly live up to what they are preaching. They teach their children to be patient and understanding, as long as they are not running late and someone cuts them off. To keep promises, yet the divorce rate in this country is steadily rising. One of the first things someone learns as a child is to share, but somewhere along the line people learned that it is better to have nice things from Pottery Barn and Ralph Lauren than to share with those less fortunate. They learned that success is measured by granite countertops, high ceilings and stainless steel appliances. Francis Bacon’s portraits challenge humankind to be genuine in word and deed, to view life as more than just a series of graduations, paychecks, and anniversaries until you die. To view every day as something more powerful than a list of things that are written down in a day planner to do, because the most wonderful things in life can never be planned. Bacon challenges the viewer to view their faith as more than just a label that they give themselves, to view it as the way that they live their life.
These paintings are sacred; that does not mean that the man portrayed in the painting is sacred, but that the purpose of the paintings is sacred. They force people into the uncomfortable situation of looking at themselves and finding that they are not too far off from the unholy pope. The paintings serve as a warning to those we view it to not become what they see and a challenge to be better, more genuine. These paintings and the life of Francis Bacon prove that from something profane can come the most shockingly honest portrayal of truth.
Works Cited
"Diego Velázquez." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation Inc.. 29 Mar 2009
"Massacre of the Innocents." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation Inc.. 29 Mar 2009
"Francis Bacon (painter)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation Inc.. 29 Mar 2009
"Francis Bacon Art Gallery." 29 Mar 2009
Fig.1 The Archangel Michael by Guido Reni
Fig. 2 Portrait of Pope Innocent X by Diego Velazquez
Fig. 4 Head IV by Francis Bacon
Fig. 5 Second Version of "Study of a Red Pope 1962" by Francis Bacon
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