Mr Vettriano, 67, took legal advice after a website was established using his name to sell fakes, The Times reports.

The domain name – jack-vettriano.co.uk – was registered in China.

The Nominet Dispute Resolution Service, which oversees .uk domains, has ruled that the bogus website should be given over to Mr Vettriano.

His legal team said people were likely to believe the website was connected with him.

A spokesman for the artist’s company, Jack Vettriano Publishing, said: “We take any infringement of our copyright very seriously and we are delighted to have closed this counterfeiting operation.”

Nominet’s independent expert, said in a written ruling: “The complainant has, to my reasonable satisfaction, shown rights in respect of a name or mark which is identical or similar to the domain name. The complainant has shown that the domain name jack-vettriano.co.uk is an abusive registration.”