This book on Francis Bacon is out of print but the good people at Amazon.com can help you find it. And if you love Francis Bacon then this book is a MUST for your library. Well written and gorgeous to view, this book more than most shows the less known works of the British genius of psychologically laden painting. The handsome book was a catalogue for the Smithsonian Institution exhibition in 1989 and 1990, before Bacon died. As for a collection of the master's best, look no further.

Simply a wonderful read. If ever you have encountered Bacon, Prof. Coquillette of Boston College Law School will delight you with his historical and jurisprudential analysis of one of the heavyweights of English legal and political history. Coquillette's prose dances as he works through the twists and turns of Bacon's life, times, and master works. A "must read" for the serious student of Anglo-American legal thought

It took my father about 20 years or so to write this book. When I was four years old I saw him working on it. I did't know what he was doing at the time but I now know what he was woring on. Francis Bacon this book is for you!

this is the best book so far to describe Bacon's thought's and inner working's of his creations.I bought this title in a book store, but wanted to say that it's hard to come by and may be out of print.If you want to know the artist, if choosing one book, this is the book to have.

Alfred Dodd has written perhaps the finest book on Francis Bacon while solving the mystery of Shakespeare's identity with rare combination of historical truth and placing it inside the narrative of a story. Dodd's penetrating insights and research leave most other Bacon biographers way behind. Partly due to the fact that Dodd himself was a Master Free- Mason the general public will have a unique glimpse and understanding of the ways of Freemasonry and it's influence throughout Bacon's life and how it saturates the Shakespeare Sonnets and Plays. The novice student to the more advanced researcher will profit greatly in absorbing the facts surrounding Bacon's mysterious birth , his relation to Queen Elizabeth, his passion and guidance to advance England thru education, sparking the English Renaissance and formulating a greater vocabulary for the English language, encouraging the New World settlements, overcoming numerous enemies like his cousin Cecil, and Coke the crooked lawyer, it's all revealed in this wonderful book. By the time one finishes reading it you will have not only a greater awareness of one of the world's greatest genuises and his selfless service to humanity and it's future but a deeper wisdom into the Shakespeare authorship issue. . Alfred Dodd has left us a great treasure chest for all to partake in.

Of all the books in print about the works of Francis Bacon, so many of them can be browsed without paying much attention to the commentary. Not here. This volume is extravagantly illustrated with many lesser known paintings by Francis Bacon, but it doesn't stop there. There is a very fine chronological timeline with photographs which show us the progression of the artist, his friends, lovers, influencing photographs, and interactions with other artists of his day. There is also a complete Exibition Schedule which holds some fascinating bits of information even to the avid Bacon fan. There are many photographs of Bacon's infamous studio in all its squallid splendor - some with the artist, some after his death. For sheer joy in getting to know a troubled genius, this book should be high on the list of recommended texts.

The corrupt period during the reign of King James in 17th century England saw many villainous characters get into power or plot to get into power. Sir Francis Bacon, visionary philosopher, philanthropist, statesman, scientist, poet, politician and judge had to contend with many of them during his lifetime. Perhaps this is why he intuited at the end, "For my name and memory I leave it to men's charitable speech's in foreign nations and the next ages; and to my own countrymen after some time be past." He seemed to realize that his reputation would grow like that of many other visionaries who were best appreciated well after their death. Sadly, to this day Bacon's rich legacy contends with villains in the form of unjust literary critics, commentators and biographers who have left a deeper stain on his name than any of his contemporaries.

Nevertheless, Bacon's star appears to be rising with the publication in 1996 by Yale University Press of Nieves Mathews' book Francis Bacon: The History of a Character Assassination. In one long fell swoop she offers the interested reader a reevaluation of the poignant politically-charged events during Bacon's life by allowing all of the prejudiced detractors and spiteful critics that ever had an ax to grind on Bacon to air their views again and then dismissing them one by one for their lack of objectivity and personal animosity.

Ten years in the making this tremendous labour of love provides more than adequate scope for the interested reader with over one hundred pages just in annotated notes alone, rounded out with an extensive twenty-page bibliography. Mathews starts out with an epigram quoted from one of Bacon's chief antagonists, Edward Coke, "The slander of a dead man is a living fault." The humorous irony here is that the insensitive Coke was a menace to anyone living who stood in the way of his political aspirations and Francis Bacon experienced this first hand. Coke had orchestrated Bacon's downfall from the Chancellorship from behind the scenes and he also slandered Bacon with false bribery charges. After Bacon's death, many uninformed commentators on Bacon's life failed to see that he was actually an honest man who was unfairly framed by Coke's influence and so the charges stuck through succeeding generations. The above quote from Coke now serves sentence on all those misguided by Coke who refuse to recognize historical truth from fiction.

Much of the later widespread misrepresentation of Bacon as a dishonest, self-serving person originated in 1837 with Thomas Macauley's, "Essay on Bacon." In her book, Mathews points out that Macauley admitted to being motivated by his overzealous need to become famous at the expense of his subject. The book also goes into detail over the agonizing position that Bacon found himself in during the Essex insurrection period. Bacon was forced to prosecute his friend Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex or face charges himself. The Earl was the victim of his own hot temperament and also suffered from the shrewd traps hatched by Robert Cecil. Essex was eventually found guilty of treason, and was executed. Mathew illustrates how the unfortunate outcome of the trial for Bacon was being unfairly tagged with being opportunistic and disloyal to his friend by later day critics who were ignorant of the facts in the case while dismissing Bacon's own summary report of the trial. Supporters of Bacon who recognize that both he and Essex shared a common bloodline as children of Elizabeth I, will be disappointed that Mathews' book does not go in that direction. She overlooks such clues as the signature carved by Essex over the entrance to his cell at the Tower of London where he used the Welsh spelling Robart Tidir (Robert Tudor) as a message to posterity that he was Elizabeth's son. This bit of history can still be seen in the Beaumont section of the Tower in London and its implications are still deliberately kept secret by the Tower guards since it contradicts the " official" story of Elizabeth's reputation as the Virgin Queen.

However, this new book is truly a great contribution toward reestablishing Francis Bacon as both an honest man and an amazingly versatile genius whose prose and style influenced later poets such as Byron and Shelley and writers such as Coleridge and Emerson, in addition to making his mark on literary contemporaries like Ben Jonson. Mathews has also done her research on the Manes Verulamiani, the book of eulogies that was written and published by Bacon's own peers at the time of his death and contains pages of lavish praise which salute him as a highly-esteemed poet and dramatist. This often-overlooked book of eulogies is an important testimony to the fact that Bacon was a great poet and dramatist. It also acknowledges him as being associated with Pallas Athena, the goddess of wisdom who shakes her spear at ignorance. It is her nickname: "The Spearshaker" that is the origin for the word Shakespeare that currently adorns Francis Bacon's most famous literary achievement. Unfortunately, Mathews tiptoes over the Shakespeare Authorship question, perhaps because it is not part of the domain and purpose of her book. However, one cannot help but wonder what she secretly thinks on the matter of Authorship after having spent so many years closely examining Bacon's life.

David Sylvester is one of the finest biographers of contemporary painters on the shelves today. His insights into such obtuse minds as Giocomettti and de Kooning and Francis Bacon have brought us, the viewer and thinker, closer to the real synapses at work. In this lavishly illustrated catalogue the emphasis is on the whole human body - alone, in confined spaces, distorted and reassembled in triptychs. Sylvester opens this format with terse discussions about particular paintings, using only black and white details of the works he is discussing. Then, once we have the groundwork established, the last half of the book is simply the paintings, printed on the finest peper, with foldouts that do justice to the triptychs and color separations that are as near to the originals as is possible. A feast for the eyes and mind....and imagination.

in this book, deleuze demonstrates that modern knowledge is no longer powered by dialectics or rationale, but by human sensuality. bacon's work is a good example to show that how art owns the ability to go beyond discourses.

This short book served as a catalogue for an exhibition at the Tate in London in 1999 and is one of the more sensitive explorations into Francis Bacon's artistic thoughts. Though known to approach unfixed canvas (in his much talked about trashy studio) with brush and paint and palette knife in hand and attack his story until it was complete, Bacon actually spent a considerable amount of time sketching ideas which often became his huge scaled painting. David Sylvester opens this Pandora's box with a pithy introduction and Matthew Gale presents a sophisticated, scholarly examination of this heretofore unknown aspect of Francis Bacon. The plates of the sketches, all included in the atalogue, prove startling even to the most ardent Baconophile. This is a treasure chest of nascent thought and aborted ideas.....and makes for splendid reading.