A painting of Gerald the York Minster cat has been valued at £250,000.
And the artist Rob Martin says if he ever sold it at that price he would use the money to help other artists.
Gerald was a very distinctive Bengal cat and became a tourist attraction in York. He was very friendly, had a very loud meow and roamed around the Minster and the footstreets.
He died back in September 2020, possibly having been accidentally poisoned.
The quarter of a million pound price tag is the insurance valuation of the Gerald painting, needed before it is put on public display at York Station.
Rob is from Huddersfield, and has already painted a portrait of Felix, the station cat in the West Yorkshire town.
He said the valuation would surprise some of those who had criticised his work in the past.
“When the portrait of Felix was first displayed there were so many Facebook comments, saying it was a bad work of art. People said it was like a painting by numbers effort,” Rob told YorkMix.
“All from people that aren’t artists. So to have a figure like that as a value is a bit of a kick back, it makes a point to those who undervalue the work of artists.
“The very first cat one I did (Felix) was valued at £75,000 – you know people would come up to me in Huddersfield and swear at me for doing a piece of work that you believed would cheer them up!
“It’s subjective, but you have to be quite thick skinned when people try and put you down.”
People do pay high prices often because they want original work.
Rob’s Felix painting depicts the female cat dressed as Charlotte Bronte, while Jeremy Corbyn’s cat, which was named El Gato, wore a Che Guevara hat and 16th century costume.
Rob says many artists don’t get the appreciation they deserve until have died – and that’s when the price of their art can rocket. But it shouldn’t be surprising that they try to earn as much as they can for work while they are alive.
“The tragedy is that some brilliant artists are never respected in life, and only when they’re gone,” he said.
“Anyway this is not about me. Because if anyone bought my paintings at tha price I would use the cash to support other artists. There’s always a bigger picture you know.”
YorkMix will keep you posted with developments on where exactly the Gerald portrait is going to end up on display at the station and when you will be able to see it for the first time.