On April 21, 2004 the original canvas of The Singing Butler, Jack Vettriano's most reproduced painting, sold at auction for $1,346,800 (£744,500). This recognition of his talents and work was a noteworthy milestone for someone who grew up in a small mining village near Kirkcaldy, Scotland, with little expectation to grow beyond its limits.
"I don't think my parents ever realized there were any other careers. I love them dearly but they lived in a limited world and their thoughts were limited. I don't think they ever thought any of their children could paint or even go on a foreign vacation. I think they brought me up the way they'd been brought up - to try and get through the system without going to prison. It was as simple as that. To be a man in that town [Fife] meant you had to drink 14 pints of lager before you went to the toilet."¹
"In retrospect, that was a blessing in disguise because I think that unfortunately, but understandably, a lecturer is trying to turn a student into his own image." ~ on being rejected by art school
Recommended books on Jack Vettriano: .
Jack Vettriano by Jack Vettriano; Jack Vettriano: Studio Life by Jack Vettriano, Ian Rankin, and Jillian Edelstein; Lovers and Others Strangers: Paintings by Jack Vettriano by Anthony Quinn;
Fallen Angels: Paintings by Jack Vettriano by W.Gordon Smith; Jack Vettriano 2007 Calendar; Jack Vettriano 2008 Diary: Small Magneto.