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§ Francis Bacon, 1909-1992, oil on canvas, part of a painting circa 1953/4, painted as a study for a Francis Bacon Pope portrait. The canvas shows a set of curtain rings on a black ground with three lines of a cube. The use of black as a background and apparent cube structures around figures was frequently employed by Bacon. The piece is thought to be part of a study for a Pope Portrait, there are similar rings in "Untitled (Pope)" ill. in "Francis Bacon The violence of the real" by Armin Zweite plate 10 page 116. On stretchers, the reverse showing a young boy sitting in a chair reading a book by Lewis Todd (1925-2006). Height 30", width 25" (additional 4.5" height and 5" width obscured as canvas nailed to stretchers). PROVENANCE: Part of a Francis Bacon work gifted by John Kesterton of the Heffer Gallery in Cambridge to the local artist Lewis Todd to allow him to use the reverse for his own paintings. This was done on the understanding that the canvases were to be cut up before use for his own work. Bacon always painted on the reverse of his canvases, the gift was made so that the impoverished young artist could made good use of them. Bequeathed direct to the present vendor. This work was inspected and authenticated by the Authentication Committee of the Francis Bacon Catalogue Raisonné in November 2012 A copy of the letter signed by Martin Harrison and confirming this attribution is sold with this work "..no doubt as to their authenticity." This and other authenticated pieces were included in The Bacon Estate sponsored PhD course at Northumbria University in which samples have been analysed. Preliminary results confirm that all pigments and binding medium used are typical of Francis Bacon works of the 1950s and 1960s. h:30 w:25 in.