The Two Popes

"In 1974 I was brought in as a hostile witness against a man who was accused of taking bodies and putting stakes through them at Highgate Cemetery. It's not a criminal offence, but they tried to insist that it was." — John Pope (quoted by Carly Florentine in A Life Less Ordinary)

I first met John Pope by sheer accident in the dying weeks of 1973. He was standing on a doorstep in Archway Road, Highgate, introducing himself to the world as The Master Therion (To Mega Therion), Son of the Beast, Spiritual Successor to Aleister Crowley, and Britain's premier Satanist. 

He sought the support of Prince Charles and the Archbishop of Canterbury in a bid to become rightful King of England, and eventually ruler of the world (as he revealed to Reveille magazine, 21 November 1975). He had a very matter-of-fact way of acquainting all and sundry with these revelations, which he did to me late in the twilight of that strange day. Looking at his watch, he suddenly announced that he had to be home by a certain time because his tea would be on the table, and his auntie might be cross. 

Born on 11 July 1953, Pope struck me as a most amusing fellow, but he was deadly serious. Behind the ever-present spectacles there was a glint in his small eyes that intrigued me. Was he for real? Over the following years, I photographed him and interviewed him on tape. These recorded interviews are now archived, and absolute gold dust. Today Pope has converted to his own brand of Islam, and is declaring himself to the chagrin of Muslims world wide to be their eschatological redeemer known as the Mahdī. 

The story will doubtless continue whilst ever he is able to draw breath. I nevertheless felt compelled to paint John Pope in oils, wanting it to be the man in all his many incarnations. At first I made his spectacles too heavy and prominent, and he was still far too normal looking for what I wanted. Hence the portrait (oil on canvas) below, which I believe has caught his true essence.

The other Pope, believed by many to be an Antipope, is Francis 1st (Jorge Mario Bergoglio, born 17 December 1936) whom I have also committed to canvas using oil. It could be argued, I suppose, that there are similarities between the two Popes in my expressionist paintings, but only in style. Whereas the first portrait I undertook, To Mega Therion, is honest and open; the second is disturbing on a number of levels because it is nigh impossible to see Jorge Mario Bergoglio underneath the multiple layers of deceit and heresy, and, of course, I have never met or been in close contact with this subject. I felt, as I was painting him, that something was nevertheless appearing before my very eyes. Toward its completion, while the heavy strokes of oil paint were still wet and sticky, an enormous blue bottle (Calliphora vomitoria) landed on the head of Francis (left, as the portrait is viewed). It became part of the painting and remains affixed (symbolic of one of the seven princes of Hell — Beelzebub).