This is one of Francis Bacon’s last works, commissioned by Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, owner of Château Mouton Rothschild, for the labels of the 1990 vintage of this Premier Cru Classé, a very good year by all accounts. Since 1945, a great painter has illustrated the label of Mouton Rothschild every year: Masson, Dalí, Miró, Braque, Cocteau, Laurencin, Motherwell, Warhol, and Baselitz, among others. Bacon is the second Briton, the other being Henry Moore. Francis Bacon, well known for his capacity to drink nearly everyone under the table, left his friend John Edward, a son of a publican, £10 million in his will, which was published last month.
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'From Bacon, to Bacchus'