Scottish painter Jack Vettriano dies aged 73

Scottish painter Jack Vettriano, greatest recognized for his portray The Singing Butler, has died on the age of 73.

His publicist mentioned the artist was discovered useless at his house in Good, within the south of France, on Saturday.

It’s understood there are not any suspicious circumstances surrounding his dying.

Vettriano was a self-taught artist whose most well-known work grew to become the UK’s best-selling artwork print and set a Scottish report when it was auctioned in 2004.

He was born Jack Hoggan on 17 November 1951 in Methil, Fife, and left faculty at 15 to grow to be a mining engineer. He later moved into personnel administration.

For his twenty first birthday, he was given a set of watercolour paints after which spent a lot of his spare time educating himself to color.

He drew inspiration from works at Kirkcaldy Galleries, learning work from artists corresponding to Samuel Peploe and William McTaggart so intently that he feared arousing the suspicions of gallery workers.

His breakthrough got here in 1989 when he submitted two work to the Royal Scottish Academy’s annual present and each offered on the primary day, inspiring him to grow to be a full-time artist.

His works garnered worldwide acclaim, resulting in exhibitions in cities together with London, Hong Kong, Johannesburg and New York.

Vettriano was typically dismissed by critics, who variously described his work as “brainless erotica”, “mere wallpaper” and “crass male fantasy”.

However in an interview with the Radio Instances, he responded: “They do not like an artist who’s as standard as me as a result of it takes away a part of their authority. In the event that they wish to ignore me, allow them to.

“I’ve what I need and that’s the help of the general public.

“Which means much more to me than the approval of a bunch of well-educated artwork buffs.”

He was appointed an OBE for providers to visible arts in 2003.

His best-known work, The Singing Butler, depicts a chic couple dancing on a storm-swept seaside accompanied by their butler and maid.

It offered at public sale in 2004 for £744,800 – a Scottish report on the time – and reproductions of the portray had been the best-selling artwork print within the UK.

It was reimagined by Banksy for Crude Oil (Vettriano) – a portray now owned by Blink-182 star Mark Hoppus and anticipated to fetch between £3m and £5m at public sale in London on Tuesday.

Regardless of being shunned by galleries earlier in his profession, Vettriano’s self-portrait The Weight went on long-term show within the Scottish Nationwide Portrait Gallery when it reopened after a renovation in 2011.

The primary main retrospective of his work was held within the Kelvingrove Artwork Gallery and Museum in Glasgow in 2013.

It attracted greater than 136,000 guests throughout its five-month run and was mentioned on the time to be probably the most profitable business exhibition ever staged in Glasgow.

An extra retrospective was held at Kirkcaldy Galleries in 2022, specializing in his adolescence and early profession.

Vettriano created a portrait for one in all three large murals of Billy Connolly put in in Glasgow in 2017 as a part of a BBC programme marking the comic’s seventy fifth birthday.

Amongst those that acquired Vettriano work had been Jack Nicholson, Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Tim Rice and Robbie Coltrane.

He has spoken publicly about his struggles together with his psychological well being and his dependence on alcohol and medicines.

Vettriano’s publicist mentioned that his passing “marks the top of an period for up to date Scottish artwork.

“His evocative and timeless works will proceed to captivate and encourage future generations.”

First Minister John Swinney paid tribute to the artist and provided his condolences to his household.

“I’m very sorry to listen to the information that Jack Vettriano has died,” he wrote in a put up on X.

“He made a novel and evocative contribution to inventive life in Scotland in such compelling fashion.”