 The folds emphasise the figure's isolation, and were drawn from devices used by Edgar Degas in the late 19th century, which Bacon described as "shuttering".Bacon said that to him the device meant that the "sensation doesn't come straight out at you but slides slowly and gently across".When asked why he was compelled to revisit Velázquez's "Portrait" again and again, Bacon replied that he had nothing against popes, but merely sought "an excuse to use these colours, and you can't give ordinary clothes that purple colour without getting into a sort of false fauve manner".