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London (dpa) - Scottish painter Jack Vettriano, whose most noted work, "The Singing Butler", sold at auction for over a million dollars last year, on Tuesday brushed aside claims that he privately copied some of his most famous works.
A spokesman for the 53-year-old painter and multi-millionaire told the BBC that he had never made any secret of using a 1987 illustrators' guide for some of his figure drawings.
But he denied that Vettriano had copied his works or that he had kept his use of the book to himself.
The characters in "The Singing Butler", are among those he is alleged to have copied, according to British press reports Tuesday.
The painting sold for a record 744,800 (1.3 million dollars) last year.
Vettriano argues that it would not have been practical to use real models in a real setting for that painting or for any of the others.
His spokesman said: "It is widely known that Jack is a self-taught artist and it seems unsurprising that as, in his early painting years he had neither time nor the money at his disposal to work with real life models, that he should use a teaching manual such as this."
"Vettriano's skill lies in his ability to create narrative paintings with which the viewer becomes involved," he added.
The painter's work is largely snubbed by the art establishment in Britain but is popular with the public and bought by stars like Jack Nicholson and Madonna.
Copyright 2005 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
