 Head VI is closely modelled on <unk> 's c . 1650 Portrait of Innocent X , today in the <unk> <unk> Gallery , Rome . <unk> cautiously avoided seeing the original , even when he spent three months in Rome in 1954 . Critics speculate he was afraid of being disappointed , or thought that an intimate knowledge of the painting would dull his imagination . Yet his fascination was all @-@ consuming and he reproduced variants of it <unk> for almost two decades ; an examination and homage described as " without parallel in the history of art " . <unk> 's approach differs to <unk> 's in a number of ways : both artists were expressive , yet <unk> 's broad brush @-@ <unk> and freedom with paint contrast with <unk> 's tight and controlled treatment . He <unk> <unk> 's positioning of the pope to place him above the viewer 's point of view , elevating and <unk> him . This was already a common technique in commercial , promotional photography but in <unk> 's hands , <unk> argues , the angle places the pope on a kind of stage for the viewer to <unk> observe . 
