Italian Vettriano tributes that come straight from the art

Published on Saturday 6 December 2008 18:41

COPIES of his works hang in tens of thousands of homes around the world. But now some of Jack Vettriano's best known paintings have been brought to life. Italian film-makers have recreated the pictures An Imperfect Past and After Midnight.

The short films have been officially endorsed by the Fife-based artist and are now featured on his website, www.jackvettriano.com

Vettriano's spokeswoman Laura Brudenell said he was an admirer of the works which had been created by Rome-based film students Roberto de Simone and Piermaria Agostini.

She said: "Jack was particularly impressed and flattered by how these film-makers have evoked the atmosphere and narrative of his paintings and also by the level of attention to detail in recreating the paintings in the final stills of each film.

"They came to Jack's attention when a friend of his saw them posted on YouTube.

"We gained permission to show these films on his official website and have had a great response to them."

Both of the original works are typical examples of Vettriano's risqu film-noir style.

An Imperfect Past features a raven-haired femme fatale watching a projected film in a dark, smokey room.

After Midnight shows an equally sultry dark-haired muse perched on a couch beside a partly dressed man.

Both films have already been viewed more than 500 times on YouTube.

Vettriano is one of the world's best-selling painters yet has been shunned by the Scottish art establishment.

His best known painting, The Singing Butler, sold at auction for 744,000 and is one of the most reproduced paintings of modern times, but none of his works has ever been acquired by Scotland's National Galleries.

The former miner recently revived his long-running feud with the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS), claiming he was finally asked to paint a portrait for its collections – only to turn the opportunity down because he did not like the proposed subject matter, golfer Colin Montgomerie.

He said: "I don't do men with breasts, and I don't mean that as unkind to Colin Montgomerie.

"I have to paint a face I like. Have you seen Colin Montgomerie's face recently?"

Montgomerie's manager Guy Kinnings hit back at the comments – and revealed the golfer had never heard of Vettriano.

He said: "Colin himself just laughed about it. He doesn't know who the guy is but he was surprised by what he said."

The painter also recently made plans to create his own online clubs for fans of his work.