Francis Bacon: Study for a Portrait was printed in a numbered limited edition of 584 copies ? the number of paintings Francis Bacon produced. Each copy includes a signed and numbered print of a photograph taken by the French photographer Michel Nguyen. This first-ever photographic monograph on Francis Bacon features more than 180 iconic images of the artist, many of them previously unseen, taken by over 60 photographers. All the photographs are from the MB Art Collection, which holds the world’s most extensive photographic archive relating to Francis Bacon’s life and art. At the time of publication, the photographic archive contained more than 700 prints of pictures taken by over 70 different photographers, from portraits by eminent photographers to rare snapshots taken by Bacon’s family and friends. The portfolio of photographs covers the period from the 1920s to the 1990s and is accompanied by anecdotes and recollections by the photographers that shed light on the contexts in which the pictures were taken. This unique encounter with Bacon via the camera lens offers a new perspective on one of the most celebrated artists of the 20th century.