A controversial master

One of the most popular and widely reproduced artists of all time, Scottish painter Jack Vettriano passed away last year in Nice. Through July 5, Palazzo Velli in Trastevere will be celebrating the beloved artist with an exhibition that traces his life and career through more than eighty of his works. These include ten oil paintings, unique and certified works on museum-quality paper created especially for the occasion, a series of photographs taken in the artist’s studio by Sunday Times photographer Francesco Guidicini, and a video in which Vettriano reflects on his life and artistic evolution.

Born Jack Hoggan, Vettriano’s career was often dismissed by the art establishment, which never quite forgave his self-taught background and accused him of reviving a light, decorative aesthetic. Yet he achieved remarkable popularity among collectors and painting enthusiasts, who admire his gift for creating evocative atmospheres, stirring intense emotion, and capturing moments charged with sensuality.

Indisputable proof of his public appeal came in 2004, when one of his most iconic works, The Singing Butler (pictured) sold at Sotheby’s for nearly £750,000. The painting depicts a couple dancing gracefully along a windswept shoreline on a grey, blustery day, sheltered by the open umbrellas of a maid and a butler who, in Vettriano’s imagination, hums the melody of Fly Me to the Moon made famous by Frank Sinatra. palazzopallavicini.com