Bacon inspired by 'gruesome medical images'

CONTROVERSIAL Dublin-born artist Francis Bacon used gruesome images in medical books for inspiration for some of his most shocking paintings, it was revealed yesterday.

Dr Margarita Cappock, head of the permanent collection at Dublin's Hugh Lane Gallery, said textbooks on skin disorders, forensic pathology, surgery and X-ray techniques were behind some of the eccentric's most eye-catching paintings.

"He was very interested in medical imagery," said Dr Cappock, who has just penned a book, Francis Bacon's Studio, on the rebuilding of the artist's painting den in the Dublin city gallery.