Vettriano painting sells for nearly £500,000 at auction

Published on Thursday 30 August 2007 01:20

A PAINTING by the popular artist Jack Vettriano fetched almost £500,000 at auction last night.

Bluebird at Bonneville was the top lot at Sotheby's sale of Scottish pictures at the Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire.

The painting was one of seven commissioned in 1997 by Sir Terence Conran, the London restaurateur and designer, for his Bluebird Club in Chelsea.

They are inspired by the celebrated Bluebird cars driven by the world-renowned racing motorist Sir Malcolm Campbell when he set nine land speed records in the 1920s and 30s.

Bluebird at Bonneville was sold for 468,000, Sotheby's said. Vettriano, right, who is from Fife, is one of the UK's most commercially successful artists.

Jack Nicholson, Madonna and Sir Alex Ferguson are said to be among his fans.

The self-taught painter made history in 2004 when his most iconic image, The Singing Butler, was sold for 744,500 - the highest price ever paid for a Scottish painting at auction.

At the weekend, he revealed that he received just 1,000 when the work was first sold. The Singing Butler and Mad Dogs, also by Vettriano, are the best-selling posters in Britain, according to Sotheby's.