Executed in 1979, Francis Bacon's Study for a Portrait is an arresting example of the artist's ability to convey authority over the genre of portraiture even while working in smaller scale. The present work began as a picture-within-a-picture – as a framed head nailed to a wall of cadmium orange, a prominent color in Bacon’s 190s works as well as in the 1944 Crucifixion triptych. When Bacon repurposed the original piece into the present smaller format, he retained a strip of cadmium orange at the bottom. The beautiful composition of the present work is thus arranged around a schema of framing devices: the overlapping matrices of paint hatching and modulations of texture carefully organize the containment of the head within the frame, preparing the viewer from the outset that this portrayal is pensive, focused and enduring. The extraordinary compression of the image, together with the scumbled turquoise blue background heightens the drama and magnifies the prominence of the visage. The three-quarter profile of the subject is contemplative: incorporating a rich array of colors, techniques and textures the image brings the paint to life. Superbly combining both a dazzling display of painterly bravura and a multi-layered psychological intensity, Study for a Portrait from 1979 exemplifies the salient features of Francis Bacon's tremendous output. The presence of Bacon's ubiquitous title prefix "Study" is laden with understat.mes nt and could not be more ironic: this painting is in fact an intensely charged minor masterpiece. It is a classic example from Bacon's seminal suite of small portrait heads in that it shows an intense and enclosed head flickering with the faintest movement.

t.mes and t.mes again throughout his career, Francis Bacon returned to the portrait format steadfast in his belief that abstraction was merely aesthetic, and that art devoid of human content lacked emotional resonance. Along with the meticulously scrutinized faces of a handful of close friends, lovers and acquaintances, it was Bacon's own visage that became the arena for his most ferocious and original investigations into pictorial representation. Like any committed portraitist, Bacon was seeking to visually explain the variations of the human condition and capture the distinct psyche and intensity of his sitters. As Christoph Heinrich notes, "Bacon paints not only 'the person', but also sets out to convey the specific energy of very different individuals through painting." (Exh. Cat., Milan, Palazzo Reale, Bacon, 2008, p. 55). Although the subject of this painting has not been explicitly identified, it is important to appreciate it from the perspective of two well known characteristics of Bacon's contemporaneous oeuvre. First, in the period after the suicide of Bacon's lover George Dyer in 1971, the artist focused on self-portraiture, and depicted a close group of friends with particular intensity. Second, Bacon possesed an extraordinary capacity to invest his portraits with personal import, as noted by David Sylvester, "Bacon had something of Picasso's genius for transforming his autobiography into images with a mythic allure and weight." (David Sylvester, Looking Back at Francis Bacon, London, 2000, p. 186).

Looking to Francis Bacon's friends for the subject of this work, it becomes starkly clear that this physiognomy bears a striking resemblance to that of the dapper John Edwards, Bacon's close friend and platonic companion for many years. The first acknowledged depiction of Edwards was not to come until 1980, and perhaps this work painted a year earlier can be viewed as an inaugural foray into the important suite of paintings done in tribute to his friend. The vibrant yet calm palette utilized here by the artist takes on an independence of its own. The vitality of the interaction between colors, particularly the orange and the turquoise create momentum in the background that highlights the figure in the foreground and adds to the impact of the single head. The treatment of the present visage suggests a confident familiarity with the muse that may stem from a particularly warm assessment of the sitter by the artist. The gentle hollow of the cheek is tender and the general softness of the features describes a thoughtful countenance. Over one hundred and fifty photos of Edwards were found during the deconstruction of Bacon's Reece Mews studio in 1998, a far greater number than anyone else. John Russell claims that the single head portrait became "the scene of some of Bacon's most ferocious investigations. Just as a gunshot somet.mes s leaves an after-echo or parallel report, so these small concentrated heads carry their ghosts within them." (John Russell, Francis Bacon, London, 1993, p. 99).

Bacon preferred to paint in absentia relying predominantly on the combination of photographic material and memory to inform his image production. He viewed painting by nature as an artifice and felt that having the model before him suffocated spontaneous creative invention. Bacon spoke admirably of Picasso, especially his work of the 1920s and 1930s, in which he saw a syntax of "organic form that relates to the human image but is a complete distortion of it." (Francis Bacon quoted in Milan Kudera and France Borel, Bacon: Portraits and Self-Portraits, London, 1996, p. 10). Study for a Portrait is an excellent example of the evolution of Bacon's understanding of Picasso and his own exploration in the realm of small portraiture. The beginning of the 1970s was marked by great sadness for the artist, following the death of his lover George Dyer. Portraits, both of self and of others, from the beginning of the decade are fraught with intense struggles of emotion and sadness. These deeply introspective moments gave way to works like the present – subtly emotional and constrained as opposed to the uneasy, dissonant and grotesquely contorted earlier examples. There is a beaming ray of reborn optimism that, almost certainly, lovingly renders the features of his new and trusted compatriot.

Following 'Study for a Portrait', Bacon Created 4 More Small Portraits Featuring John Edwards

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Three Studies for a Portrait of John Edwards, 1980《約翰·愛德華茲肖像的三項研究》，1980年作

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'John Edwards', 1984《約翰·愛德華茲》，1984年作

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Study for Portrait of John Edwards, 1989《約翰·愛德華茲肖像習作》，1989年作

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Study of Portrait of John Edwards, 1989《約翰·愛德華茲肖像習作》，1989年作

如果弗朗西斯・培根的藝術旨在尋找繪畫的高度，並藉此作為現實生活的寫照，那麼他筆下的肖像畫就是其創作的核心。此畫尺幅精巧，證明培根憑著小畫，也能彰顯自己在肖像畫方面的傑出造詣。這幅精緻動人的作品被巧妙安排在別出心裁的邊框裡，層層堆疊、交織的線條和肌理組成畫面的骨架，將頭像鑲嵌其中，令觀眾在初見作品的那一刻起，就已感受到藝術家對人物的刻畫細緻入微，能夠經受年月洗禮。圖像的簡化和淺淡的藍綠色背景反而將畫面的戲劇色彩渲染得更加濃郁，畫中人的臉龐更形分明。這是一張神色深沉的臉，以四分三的角度微側，藝術家運用豐富的色彩、技法和質感，為顏料帶來生命力。此畫作於1979年，糅合了大膽的表現手法和強烈的情感深度，在培根畢生可觀的肖像創作中可稱典範。經常在其作品標題中出現的「習作」二字其實過於輕描淡寫，甚至正好語意相反，因為此畫明顯是一幅飽含深情的出色小品。這是培根筆下優秀的小型頭像作品，畫面懸著一顆頭顱，隨著極細微的動作而輕輕顫動，張力十足。

培根堅信抽象藝術只是一門美學形式，被剝奪人類存在的藝術缺乏情感上的共鳴，徒留一具空殼，因此他在創作生涯裡不時回到肖像畫的懷抱。經過他用犀利的目光端詳、審視的臉龐除了少數密友、情人和舊識以外，還包括他本人，培根透過自畫像探索圖像的象徵意涵，開拓出他最勇於打破常規的試驗場。一如其他精益求精的肖像畫家，培根希望借助視覺元素，詮釋人類的不同狀態，捕捉模特兒的心理和情感深度。克里斯多夫・亨利克形容，「培根畫的不單是『某人』，更是透過作品傳遞不同人的特質」（展覽圖錄，米蘭皇宮，《培根》，2008年，頁55）。雖然此畫的人物身份未有特別說明，但是根據培根同時期作品的兩大特徵，我們可以從兩個角度欣賞這幅作品。首先，培根在伴侶喬治・戴爾1971年自殺身亡後，專注創作自畫像，並為一群好友畫像，作品均流露出熾熱的情感。其次，培根才賦非凡，能為自己筆下所有肖像畫賦予個人意義，正如大衛・史維斯塔寫道，「培根擁有堪比畢加索將生平故事化為圖畫的天才，並從中注入神秘的吸引力和沉甸甸的份量」（大衛・史維斯塔，《回顧弗朗西斯・培根》，倫敦，2000年，頁186）。

假如從培根的友人中嘗試找出此畫主角的身份，不難發現畫中人的容貌與英俊瀟灑的約翰・愛德華頗為相似，愛德華是培根多年的密友，兩人保持著一段柏拉圖式的關係。第一幅開宗明義以愛德華為主角的作品直到1980年才面世，這幅一年前的作品或者是牛刀小試。此畫明亮且沉靜的用色非常別致，顏色相互映襯，碰撞出蓬勃生機，背景中活潑的橘色與藍綠色對比鮮明，中間唯一的頭像彷彿照面而來。藝術家對面容的處理充滿自信，暗示他對模特兒非常熟悉，作畫時打量對方的方式想必洋溢溫暖的愛慕之情。微微凹陷的臉頰溫柔得讓人如沐春風，柔和的五官構成一副若有所思的神情。位於倫敦 Reece Mews 的培根工作室在1998年搬遷期間總共找到150多張愛德華的照片，數量比其他人都要多。約翰・羅素認為，單一頭像成為「培根不倦探索的一種形式。就像槍聲會留下餘音或平行報告一樣，這些精緻的頭像裡都埋藏著畫中人的魂魄」（約翰・羅素，《弗朗西斯・培根》，倫敦，1993年，頁99）。

培根喜歡在沒有模特兒在場的情況下作畫，過程主要依賴照片和記憶。他將繪畫的本質視為取巧的詭術，藝術家面前的模特兒會窒礙即興創作。培根經常以敬佩的口吻提起畢加索，他在畢加索1920及30年代的作品中，看到「與人體相關、但卻完全扭曲變形的有機形態」的排列（弗朗西斯・培根，引述自米蘭・昆德拉及弗朗斯・博雷爾，《培根：肖像和自畫像》，倫敦，1996年，頁10）。這幅精彩肖像見證培根對畢加索逐步深入的了解，以及他在小型肖像領域裡的自我探索歷程。藝術家在1970年代初痛失摯愛喬治・戴爾後陷入無盡悲慟，此後他為自己及他人所繪的畫像都映照出其內心的磨難和哀傷。這些深入骨髓的內省慢慢被類似此畫的作品取代，後者的情感較為含蓄細膩，與前期壓抑糾結的面相大相逕庭，訴說著藝術家心底悄悄復甦的釋然。這道穿透黑暗的陽光驅使他滿懷著堅定的愛意，為自己信賴的新同伴畫下肖像。