✓ Certificate of Authenticity included  ·  ✓ Fully insured UK delivery  ·  International delivery on enquiry
About the painting
Altar of Memory is one of Vettriano's most haunting images. A man in a black suit dances with a blue dress on a mannequin, a stand-in for someone who is no longer there. The title suggests remembrance and loss, and the painting turns a dance, usually a symbol of romance, into an act of mourning or longing. It is a powerful example of the emotional depth beneath his stylish surfaces.
It is a painting that stays with people, and it suits a study, a living room or a collection focused on his more reflective work.
About this edition
Altar of Memory was published in 2004 as a limited edition silkscreen, each print signed and numbered by Jack Vettriano and supplied with a certificate of authenticity. The size is 16 x 20 inches. Examples come to us individually, so please contact us for the edition number, condition and price.
Edition details
Price on application
Limited Edition
Silkscreen
Published: 2004
Size: 16 x 20 in
Signed and numbered by the artist
Framing, display and care
This is a silkscreen print, also known as a serigraph. Rather than being printed in a single pass, a silkscreen is built up one colour at a time, with each colour pushed through its own fine mesh screen by hand. The result is a layered, slightly raised surface with flat, intense areas of colour that a giclée cannot quite reproduce, which is why many collectors seek out Vettriano's silkscreen editions in particular. To look after it, use an acid-free mount and UV-filtering glass, keep it out of direct sunlight, and hang it on a dry wall away from radiators and steamy rooms. Handle it by the edges, and keep it flat if it has to be stored before framing.
Enquiries
Because examples of this edition come to us individually, we quote prices on application. Get in touch and we will tell you what is available, its edition number and condition, and whether it is framed, and we can send extra photographs if that helps. As an official stockist, every print we supply comes with a certificate of authenticity and fully insured UK delivery. International delivery is available on enquiry.
About Jack Vettriano
Jack Vettriano was born in St Andrews in 1951 and grew up in Methil, Fife. He left school at sixteen and taught himself to paint, studying the works in Kirkcaldy's gallery after being given a set of watercolours for his twenty-first birthday. When he sent two paintings to the Royal Scottish Academy's annual exhibition in 1988, both sold on the first day, and his career as a professional painter began.
Vettriano's paintings are known for their cinematic atmosphere: men and women in evening dress, beaches under heavy skies, quiet rooms where something has just happened or is about to. He was appointed OBE in 2003, and a major retrospective of his work was held at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow in 2013 and 2014.
Jack Vettriano died in March 2025. His body of work is now closed, so no new paintings will be added to it. The editions he signed in his lifetime are a fixed supply, and since his death the Estate of Jack Vettriano has released just two official posthumous editions, The Sailor's Toy and Young Hearts, which carry the Estate's embossed stamp instead of a signature. For collectors, that makes the edition size, the signature and the certificate of authenticity more important than ever.
More by Jack Vettriano: Angel · An Imperfect Past · Arrangement In Red, White and Blue · At Last, My Lovely · Baby, Bye Bye