The Guardian
The Singing Butler is a painting by the Scottish artist Jack Vettriano, created in 1992. It sold at auction in 2004 for £744,500, the record at the time for any Scottish painting, and for any painting ever sold in Scotland. Reproductions of The Singing Butler make it the best-selling art print in the UK.[1]
The focal subject of The Singing Butler is based on an image of the actress Orla Brady, published in The Illustrator’s Figure Reference Manual (1987) as part of a series of photographic figure studies.[2]
In 1992 Vettriano submitted The Singing Butler to the Royal Academy for inclusion in its Summer Exhibition, but the painting was rejected.[3]
A “reimagining” of The Singing Butler by Banksy, first exhibited in 2005, was sold at Sotheby’s in London for £4.3 million, just a few days after Vettriano’s death.[4]