Eric Hall Eric Hall, an English businessman and diplomat, was for a number of years Bacon's patron and the love of his life. He was a wealthy art-lover who - despite his marriage and children - openly maintained with Bacon a homosexual relationship that was to be of great importance to the latter's work and career. Twenty years older than Bacon, Hall acted not only as the father figure that Bacon had had never had - the relationship with his own father had always been poor - but also provided intellectual stimulus. Hall's regular purchases of Bacon's work solved the young artist's financial difficulties and at the same time established his reputation in the art world. These purchases included the important Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion (p. 28), which Hall later donated to the Tate Gallery.