Scottish painter Jack Vettriano dies at 73

Jack Vettriano, a Scottish painter known for his distinctive, cinematic style has died at the age of 73.

His most famous work, The Singing Butler, depicts a couple dancing on a beach while servants hold umbrellas against the wind.

Vettriano’s publicist said the artist was found dead at his apartment in Nice, in the south of France, on Saturday. Reports have it that there are no suspicious movements surrounding his death as of now.

Vettriano was born Jack Hoggan on 17 November 1951 in Methil, Fife. He was a self-taught artist. He left school at 16 years of age to become a mining engineer.

Vettriano was given a set of watercolour paints 21st birthday and, from then on, he spent much of his free time teaching himself to paint.

He drew inspiration from works at Kirkcaldy Galleries, studying paintings from artists such as Samuel Peploe and William McTaggart so much that he feared arousing the suspicions of gallery staff.

Vettriano’s work is known to be cinematic and always evokes a dark atmosphere with moody lighting and narrative tension. Even with his commercial success, he has faced criticism from the traditional art establishment, with some dismissing his work as overly sentimental or lacking technical depth.

However, his paintings remain widely popular, and his prints are among the best-selling in the UK.

Vettriano’s best-known work, The Singing Butler was sold for an auction amount in 2004 for £744,800 – a Scottish record at that time.

(BBC)