✓ Certificate of Authenticity included  ·  ✓ Fully insured UK delivery  ·  International delivery on enquiry
About the painting
Sweet Bird of Youth shows a woman in a blue dress on a beach with men in hats, one of Vettriano's classic shoreline compositions. The title borrows from Tennessee Williams's 1959 play about fading glamour and lost youth, and Vettriano's painting shares something of its bittersweet mood: a beautiful moment, already slipping into memory. The beach, as so often in his work, is a stage on which people display themselves and watch each other.
It is an early image from the mid-1990s and a fine example of the beach paintings that first made his name. It suits a living room, hallway or any bright wall.
About this edition
Sweet Bird of Youth was published in 1995 as a limited edition lithograph, each print signed and numbered by Jack Vettriano and supplied with a certificate of authenticity. The size is 19 x 15 inches. Early lithographs like this are increasingly scarce, particularly in good condition. Please contact us for the edition number, framing and price of the example we hold.
Edition details
Price on application
Limited Edition Print
Published: 1995
Size: 19 x 15 in
Signed and numbered by the artist
Lithograph
Framing, display and care
This is a lithograph, one of the classic printmaking methods, in which each colour is printed from its own plate so that the image is built up in layers on the sheet. Lithographs from the mid-1990s belong to the earliest phase of Vettriano's print publishing, before giclée technology became the norm, and they have a quality of their own as a result. Treat it as you would any work on paper of this age: frame it with an acid-free mount and UV-filtering glass, hang it away from direct sun, and avoid bathrooms, kitchens and the area above a radiator. If you are unsure about its current framing, a conservation framer can check the mount and backing for you.
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.
More by Jack Vettriano: The Billy Boys · The Blue Gown · The Contemplation Series · The Devoted Dressmaker · The Last Great Romantic