Jack Vettriano (Scottish, b.1951) is a painter best known for his film noir-inspired, realistic works that often include erotic overtones. Born in Fife, Scotland, Vettriano began painting when he received a set of watercolors for his 21st birthday, and worked a variety of jobs, including mining engineer, while painting in his spare time. His career began after he painted and successfully submitted two works, Model in a White Slip and Saturday Night, to the Royal Scottish Academy’s summer exhibition in 1989. Vettriano’s most famous painting, The Singing Butler (1992), depicts a man dancing with a woman in a red dress, accompanied by a butler and maid holding umbrellas. The painting sold for almost £750,000 at Sotheby’s in 2004, and is the best-selling Fine Art print in the UK. In 1996, Vettriano was commissioned by the restaurateur Sir Terence Conran to complete a series of paintings, depicting the life of racing motorist Sir Malcolm Campbell, for his Bluebird Club in London. Vettriano’s style, which the artist himself has likened to 1930s railway posters and the covers of Pulp Fiction novels, has been scorned by critics, but his work continues to be extremely successful among collectors. His first solo exhibition was held at the Edinburgh Gallery in 1992, and he has exhibited his work at the Portland Gallery in London, the Kirkcaldy Museum in Fife, and the National Gallery of Scotland. In 2003, he received an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to the Visual Arts. Vettriano is represented by the Heartbreak Gallery in London. He currently lives and works in Fife, London, and Nice.