Pope painting by Francis Bacon to go on sale after 45 years hidden away

Estimated to be worth £60m, the painting depicts a slumping pope whose formless body is capped by a drunk’s red nose

The pope’s body is a spiralling heap of sausages wrapped in white and pink robes. Go closer, and even stranger physical images arise: brown smears over his fleshy hands look disturbingly faecal. You could almost believe it, if this were not a £60m – or more – masterpiece soon to go on sale in the opulent setting of Christie’s London auction house.

Francis Bacon’s Study of Red Pope 1962. 2nd Version 1971 is as close to a new painting by the great Soho bohemian painter who died in 1992 as we are ever likely to see.

Related: Francis Bacon's painting gloves are going to auction – praise be!

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