Jack Vettriano, real name Jack Hoggan, is a Scottish painter. He left school at 16 and became an apprentice mining engineer, but devoted himself to painting in his spare time. His first paintings were copies of Impressionist paintings (including Claude Monet). Vettriano became famous in 1988 when he exhibited two paintings at the annual exhibition of the Royal Academy of Scotland: these two paintings sold on the first day and several galleries offered to sell his works. Success contributed to the breakdown of his first marriage and he moved to Edinburgh, changing his name to Vettriano (his mother's maiden name). Although his style is considered vulgar and unimaginative by some art critics, he is one of the most prominent artists in the art market: his paintings regularly fetch enormous prices, but it is said that reproductions of his works bring him even more.