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Bacon's £9m 'rent cheque' for sale
By Louise Jury, Evening Standard 03.09.07
Gift: Bacon's Study From The Human Body
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It must be one of the biggest rent cheques ever.
A painting given to the Royal College of Art by Francis Bacon after it offered him studio space almost 40 years ago is to be sold at auction for an estimated £9 million.
The proceeds will go towards building a new campus in Battersea.
Bacon was not a student or teacher at the Royal College but after a fire destroyed his studio in 1969, Sir Robin Darwin, the then rector, offered the artist a place to work.
In return, Bacon gave the college Study For Bullfight No 1. He later requested a loan of the painting for a retrospective of his work in New York and offered a replacement. The substitute, Study From The Human Body, Man Turning On The Light (1973-74), proved so popular the college asked to keep it and Bacon agreed.
It is this work that will be sold at Christie's in London on 14 October.
While some academic institutions have come under fire for selling their collections, the Royal College believes Bacon, who died in 1992, would have approved of the auction.
Sir Terence Conran, its current provost, consulted him when the possibility of selling was raised before. He said today: "It pays great testament to the benevolent nature of the artist that he gave the decision his full and enthusiastic support if it would be of benefit to the students of the college."
The college, in Kensington Gore, recently signed a long lease for the Battersea site, where it is building a campus for its schools of fine and applied art, as well as providing start-up units for artists and designers.
Rector and vice-provost Sir Christopher Frayling said: "Although Francis Bacon never had a personal connection with the college, we are grateful for his short tenancy in 1969.
"The rent from it - in spectacular pictorial form - will provide countless students with access to modern facilities that will best support and benefit their education and artistic development."
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