Why is it called "The Screaming Pope?"

Fair question. After all, all my previous annotated works have been called "The Annotated This" or "The Annotated That."

Here's the gist of the thing: In sixteen-something, Diego Velazquez painted this portrait of Pope Innocent X.

A study in innocence if ever one existed.

Then in 1953 (the year of my birth), Irish-born painter Francis Bacon, fascinated with the Velazquez image, painted this:

Actually titled "Study after Velazquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X, 1953," it's commonly referred to as "The Screaming Pope." Bacon would go on to paint forty or so images inspired by the Pope but this is the coolest (and likely most famous) one.

Fast forwarding to this summer in the Catskills and the show I had in Andes, NY. Merna Popper, my upstate dealer, would say to people that in the old days, portraitists used to either paint kings or popes and that I, by painting presidents and financiers, had simply updated the equation.

Me? I knew I had to paint Paulson as part of this year's annotated series. And I've always felt great admiration for Bacon. So when I saw an image of Henry Paulson with his mouth wide open, I decided to use that as the source photo and call the painting "The Screaming Pope"-- in part because the name speaks to the modern context of the Paulson's position in the financial crisis, and in part as homage to Bacon.

So that's where the name came from.