by Eric Roberts
This brief inventory of contemporary portraits of England’s most illustrious polymath, Sir Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626), makes no claims of being complete or without inaccuracies. Primarily, it is an open invitation to interested scholars and art historians to contribute to a more informed understanding and appreciation of the surviving portraits of this central figure in the evolution of human thought, language and culture. Problems with the identification, dating and attribution of contemporary art works purporting to be of Francis Bacon remain to be solved.
