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The Singing Butler ( part 2 ) – Jack Vettriano classic image

A sketch by Jack Vettriano of his most famous image , The Singing Butler , has sold at auction for just under £40,000. The money goes to the St Andrews University Students Charity fund . Vettriano produced the sketch in under an hour during a masterclass at the University a few years ago . Mr Vettriano and the university principal Dr Brian Lang decided to offer the sketch to the students to sell after hearing of their fund-raising efforts. It sold for £39,650, almost double its estimated price, when it went under the hammer at Sotheby’s Scottish pictures sale at Gleneagles Hotel. The Singing Butler sketch was bought by a UK private collector after a bidding battle. The painting is now playing a starring role in Vettriano’s retrospective on show at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow

Best selling artist Jack Vettriano of Lunchtime Lovers fame at Photogold

Kelpies canvas prints for sale – original images of the Kelpies.

Jack Vettriano was born in St Andrews , Fife, Scotland in 1951 and grew up in the mining town of Methil . He was raised in poverty – he lived with his mother, father and older brother in a spartan miner’s house, sharing a bed with his brother and wearing hand-me-down clothes. From the age of 10, his father sent him out doing any job that would earn money. His father took half his earnings. After leaving school at 15, he followed his father down the mine, working as an apprentice engineer. Vettriano took up painting as a hobby in the 1970s when a girlfriend bought him a set of watercolours for his birthday and from then on, he spent much of his spare time teaching himself to paint.

In 1984, Vettriano first submitted his work to an art exhibition in the museum . Jack Nicholson, Sir Alex Ferguson , Sir Terence Conran and Sir Tim Rice are amongst his fans .

Photogold was the first online art gallery in the UK and it is older than Google ! It was initially designed by photographer David Rankin  to market primarily prints of Scotland , including landscape prints featuring our eco canvas prints . We have a comprehensive range of signed limited edition prints by Scottish artist Jack Vettriano including Lunchtime Lovers and Elegy for the Dead Admiral . 

Contact us online or phone 07723-538941

Photogold offers a corporate art service for local businesses . With over 20 years experience in the art trade we can supply the artwork for any business , hotel or organisation . For more details phone 07723-538941.

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