Jack Vettriano the Artist

Jack Vettriano, otherwise known as Jack Hoggan, was born on 17. of November 1951 in Methil, Fife, Scotland. His parents are of Italian origin. Jack Vettriano has been working for the last two decades as a very successful painter. His original art as well as posters and prints of his motifs are widely admired and collected. The style of Vettriano’s art is often described as sentimental, mysterious, and often melancholic.

Jack Vettriano is a self made man, and his story is that of a real fighter. By the beginning of the 21st Century, Vettriano sold more than 500,000 works. Most of these paintings are now in private, public and commercial collections all over the world.

Jack Vettriano’s birth name is Jack Hoggan. He grew up in the industrial coastal city of Mehil. Vettriano left school when he was16 years old, to work in the local coal mine. His goal was to becoming a mining engineer.

Vettriano began to paint rather by accident. His girlfriend at the time gave him a set of watercolor paints for his 21st birthday. Vettriano learned to paint by reading textbooks and studying and copying paintings from other well known artists.

Vettriano’s first painting was a copy of Monet’s poppy fields – still signed with the name Jack Hoggan. In 1988, Jack changed his name to Jack Vettriano, by adopting his mothers maiden name, and adding an “a” to it. In the same year, Jack Vettriano exhibited two of his paintings at the Royal Scottish Academy. The submission of his paintings aroused public interest in his work, and Jack Vettriano soon secured enough income to devote himself fully to being an artist.

Further exhibitions in London, Edinburgh, Hong Kong and Johannesburg contributed both to Jack Vettriano’s increasing success, as well as to the failure of his marriage.
In November 1999, Jack Vettriano exhibited twenty paintings at the International 20th Century Art Fair in New York. 50 British collectors attended the opening and after the first day, all Vettriano paintings had been sold.

Jack Vettriano’s most acclaimed and best-selling work is The Singing Butler. Interestingly, it was dismissed by the summer exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1992. However, the painting of “The Singing Butler” sold at auction twelve years later for a fabulous £ 744,500.00.

Today, Jack Vettriano, works in his studios in London and Kirkcaldy, Scotland. The public interest in Vettriano’s art is growing daily. There are many devoted collectors of Vettriano’s work, among them are Jack Nicholson, Sir Alex Ferguson and Robbie Coltrane.

Jack Vettriano produces new work, and reproduces his most famous motifs, such as “The Missing Man I”, “Waltzers”, “Mad Dogs”, “The Picnic Party”, “In thoughts of you”, “Back where you belong” and many others in form of posters and high-end prints.