HUMAN PRESENCE Francis Bacon celebrating irish women Purser was an active collector

Purser was an active collector of other artist’s work

after all as Emily Dickinson famously wrote

a classic of its kind

enters a melting pot of wealth and culture when she becomes nursemaid in the house of renowned painter Rembrandt

with their early deaths playing a key role in their posthumous fame

HUMAN PRESENCE Francis Bacon celebrating irish women Purser was an active collectorFeaturing works from the 1950s onwards, this book explores Francis Bacon's deep connection to portraiture and how he challenged traditional definitions of the genre. From his responses to portraiture by earlier artists, to large scale paintings memorialising lost lovers, works from private and public collections will showcase Bacon's life story. As well as the artist's self portraits, sitters include Lucian Freud, Isabel Rawsthorne and lovers Peter