Head VI is closely modelled on Velázquez 's c . 1650 Portrait of Innocent X , today in the Doria Pamphilj Gallery , Rome . Bacon cautiously avoided seeing the original , even when he spent three months in Rome in 1954 . Critics speculate he was afraid of being disappointed , or thought that an intimate knowledge of the painting would dull his imagination . Yet his fascination was all @-@ consuming and he reproduced variants of it obsessively for almost two decades ; an examination and homage described as " without parallel in the history of art " . Bacon 's approach differs to Velázquez 's in a number of ways : both artists were expressive , yet Bacon 's broad brush @-@ strokes and freedom with paint contrast with Velázquez 's tight and controlled treatment . He adapts Velázquez 's positioning of the pope to place him above the viewer 's point of view , elevating and distancing him . This was already a common technique in commercial , promotional photography but in Bacon 's hands , Schmied argues , the angle places the pope on a kind of stage for the viewer to coldly observe .