Francis Bacon: Threesome

Triptych, 1991. Starring Jose Capelo. Worth plenty handbag.

FRANCIS BACON gave $4m to a Spanish banker he had fallen in love with and painted in one of his most important works, according to a tape recording of the artist.

The revelation of his gift to Jose Capelo, who was less than half his age, has emerged in conversations with Barry Joule, a close friend.

In the tapes, Bacon refers to his sister, before adding: “You see, I gave her exactly the same amount as I gave Jose."

Joule asks: “Four million?”

Bacon replies: “Four million dollars. That’s over £2m, you know.” The gay artist hints at regret over his generosity to Capelo. “I often think how stupid, what a fool I was to have done it,” he says. “And then I suddenly think, ‘Oh well, there it is, it is done’.”

Portrait Of Jose Capelo, 1987. Not sure they were getting on so well here.

Joule said the recordings were made with the consent of the artist, who also gave Capelo two of his paintings and requested that the tapes were not made public for 12 years after his death, which was in 1992.

According to Joule, Bacon met Capelo, then in his early thirties, in 1988 at a dinner party for Sir Frederick Ashton, the choreographer. Joule had invited the Spaniard when the singer Freddie Mercury and dancer Rudolf Nureyev could not attend.“Francis was quite uptight because Ashton was holding court — because he was even richer and grander than Francis and both men fancied Jose,” he recalled.

Joule, who became the artist’s confidant, said Bacon became infatuated with Capelo. He was 78, however, and acutely aware of the age difference...

The Sunday Times - This story has been officially verified by the late Hugh Trevor-Roper.

Jose, Barry, Francis.