He has perhaps become the most commercially successful artist in Scotland, best known for his painting The Singing Butler.
But in his last years, Jack Vettiano never put paint in Canvas, instead preferred drinks and cigarettes while he had difficulty tackling the criticism of his work.
One of his best friends Remi Akande, 52, said that the autodidactic artist, who died in France last week at the age of 73, had become 'withdrawn' when he shunned from the public eye.
The 52-year-old, who made a friendship with Vettiano, after a casual meeting in Edinburgh, said that 'snobby' critics 'took a lot of his confidence'.
She said: “He would say he would take a step back to let his paintings talk, but he also admitted that the criticism had come in his head.
“I remember that he said that” it can't be my work because it is being sold, so it was clearly an I -thing, “and that's what he couldn't forget.”
Vettiano, who was born as Jack Hoggan in Methil, Fife, moved to London to escape from his critics. But Mrs. Akande said he returned to Edinburgh, to see 'his years in a beautiful area'.
She told The Sunday Times – newspaper that he was 'very, very withdrawn' and as one of his friends who would give him food and medicine, he would also call her and tell her to bring him some 'Putin's Revenge' – a bottle of vodka – and a pack of cigarettes.
Artist Jack Vettiano was withdrawn more and more in his last years, according to a good friend
Mr. Vettiano's The Singing Butler was the most popular art print of Great Britain
Vettiano, who was born as Jack Hoggan in Methil, Fife, moved to London to escape his critics
His friend was also worried that he was not eating and admitted that he 'did not take care of himself'.
At the start of the pandemic, while he was staying in a hotel in Edinburgh, Vettiano gave interviews in which he said he was lonely, without a partner, drink and not sleeping.
Mrs Akande also confirmed that he was not painting, although she said she never saw any evidence that Vettiano used drugs.
In an interview with the mail in 2022, however, the artist said after the fall of a 'very destructive relationship in London', he began to 'abuse substances'.
He said: 'It cost me emotionally and financially. Everything got completely out of hand. '
After his death in Nice last week, a tribute came in for the “suggestive and timeless” painter, in which prime minister John Swinney said that his loss would be “felt by many.”
His painting of the singing butler in 1992 was the striking work of his career and one that would continue to anesthetal of art experts a little more than a decade after it was produced.
The oil-on-canvas shows an elegant couple of dancing on a storm-wiped beach accompanied by their butler and girl.
Vettiano in Bonhams in Edinburgh who stands an unexpected guest next to his painting
A closed view of Jack Vettiano painting, three girls bathed in the sea
Vettiano was almost as famous for his colorful personal life as he was for his paintings
As the most popular art print in the UK, it sold it for £ 90,000 in 2003 when it was auctioned.
The following year it made every expectations when it sold for a record of £ 744,800 at Sotheby's, with an asking price of £ 200,000.
And only one day after his death, a rare 'reimbursement' of the famous painting sold by street artist Banksy for nearly £ 4.3 million at an auction.
Among those who own Vettriano's work are actor Jack Nicholson and football legend Sir Alex Ferguson. Sir Billy Connolly, Jackie Stewart and Zara Tindall are some of the famous faces he has painted.
But he was almost as famous for his colorful personal life as he was for his paintings.
Mrs Akande said she would miss his chatter and her 'beautiful, hilarious, grumpy, genius friend'.
She said: 'I think Jack was stuck in the older days. He wanted to talk to other women as he spoke to me. He probably got in trouble and it made him a lot of care, but it didn't stop him either. '
But she added: “He meant no harm.”
