Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion is a 1944 triptych painted by the Irish-born artist Francis Bacon. The work is based on the Eumenides, or Furies, of Aeschylus' The Oresteia, and depicts three writhing anthropomorphic creatures set against a flat orange background. The triptych was executed in oil paint and pastel on Sundeala fibre board, and was completed within the space of two weeks. The work summarizes themes explored in Bacon's previous paintings, including his examination of Picasso's biomorphs, and his interpretations of the Crucifixion and the Greek Furies. Bacon did not realize his intention to paint a large crucifixion scene and place the figures at the foot of the cross. The Three Studies triptych is generally considered Bacon's first mature piece; he regarded his works before the triptych as irrelevant, and throughout his life he tried to suppress their appearance in the art market. When the painting was first exhibited in 1945, it caused a sensation, and helped to establish him as one of England's foremost post-war painters. Commenting on the cultural significance of Three Studies, the critic John Russell observed in 1971 that "there was painting in England before the Three Studies, and painting after them, and no one ... can confuse the two."

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

378: A large Roman army led by Emperor Valens was destroyed by the Goths in the Battle of Adrianople. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Adrianople)

1173: The construction of a campanile, which would eventually become the Leaning Tower of Pisa, began. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaning_Tower_of_Pisa)

1945: World War II: USAAF bomber Bockscar dropped an atomic bomb named Fat Man, devastating Nagasaki, Japan. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Man)

1969: Followers of cult leader Charles Manson brutally murdered pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others in her Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles home. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_Tate)

1974: The Watergate scandal: Richard Nixon became the first (and to date only) President of the United States to resign from office. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon)

_____________________ Wiktionary's Word of the day:

parochial: Of or relating to a parish. (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/parochial)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

You do not chop off a section of your imaginative substance and make a book specifically for children, for — if you are honest — you have no idea where childhood ends and maturity begins. It is all endless and all one. -- P. L. Travers (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/P._L._Travers)