Francis
Bacon

One of the most influential Anglo-Irish painters of the late twentieth century, Francis Bacon produced dozens of drawings and collages in pencil, coloured pastels and oil on Fabriano paper. And there’s a story behind it. It involves the journalist Cristiano Lovatelli Ravarino, to whom Bacon had donated several works between 1977 and 1992. Lovatelli Ravarino had provided the artist with much of the paper he used for his works, paper which came from the Fabriano paper mills as certified by the embossed stamps.
The first few times he used the paper, Bacon cut the stamps off because he thought they were advertisements. This explains why several of his drawings made on Fabriano paper do not have corners. Over time Bacon stopped doing it, perhaps because someone explained the reason for the stamps to him…