Francis Bacon was a British painter born in Ireland. He is considered one of the most important figurative painters of the 20th century. In his works, he primarily dealt with the representation of the deformed human body in narrow, sometimes even nested spaces. Bacon is particularly known for his pictures of Popes and portraits of his closest friends. His sometimes grotesque figures and daring representations are charged with emotions. Bacon did not work with models or in front of originals, but with photographs, illustrations in books and magazines, or other material. The artist never saw the original of Diego Velázquez's portrait of Pope Innozenz X., which he dealt with intensively in his own work, but always worked from a black-and-white illustration. More about Francis Bacon's life, work and studio can be found on the website of the Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane. 1998 saw the acquisition and relocation of Bacon's London studio to Dublin, which has been open to the public since 2001.