Images of contemporaneous works suggest a somewhat different backstory than the one that Bacon suggested in his interviews with Sylvester. Photos of Study for Man with Microphones (1946) [pictured at left], which Bacon later repainted and subsequently destroyed, depicted very similar compositional themes to Painting, which was most likely painted after the abandoned work. In Study for Man with Microphones a black-suited figure stands within a railed structure, before a bevy of microphones, with the upper portion of his face concealed by a black umbrella.
The Bacon scholar Martin Harrison proposes that the similarity of these two images suggests that the creation of Painting was less the result of chance than Bacon let on. This inconsistency between the painting’s oral and material history is a recurring problem for conservators and scholars alike, as both types of histories are vital sources of information. In Bacon’s case, his impulse to self-edit and his careful construction of the publicized story of his creative practice give rise to conflicting histories of Painting.