Top Of The Pops - UK 2006

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According to a recent BBC poll on the artists' artists; here are the Top 10 in 2006:

Freud's portrait of an ex-junkie model

fetched £3.9m at auction

Lucien Freud has topped a list of favourite artists in a survey of the UK artistic community.

He beat the likes of Rembrandt and Van Gogh - who also made the top ten - to become the artists' favourite artist.

Other modern day giants such as Howard Hodgkin and David Hockney also featured in the poll, carried out by The Great Art Fair.

But so-called Young British Artists such as Tracey Emin, Chris Ofili and Damien Hirst were overlooked.

Hirst, who won the Turner Prize in 1995, garnered only one vote from the 500 artists polled, while Emin and Ofili failed to get a single nod, although 70% of the top ten artists are still alive.

Old Masters such as Titian, Velasquez, Goya, Vermeer, Da Vinci and Botticelli are also overlooked in favour of more contemporary artists.

TOP TEN ARTISTS 1. Lucien Freud 2. Howard Hodgkin 3. David Hockney 4. JMW Turner 5. Antoni Tapies 6. Rembrandt 7. Jack Vettriano 8. Barbara Rae 9. Frank Auerbach 10. Van Gogh Source: The Great Art Fair

"We have seen many statistics and results about the British public's favourite artistic talents, and can read countless critic's profiles expounding the virtues of a variety of names in art, but this is the first poll to be conducted amongst working artists," said Great Art Fair spokesman.

Freud was born in Berlin in 1922, the grandson of Sigmund Freud, and moved to London with his family in 1933.

He has been described as "the greatest painter of our time" and his work can be found in museum and private collections across the world.

The Great Art Fair, the UK's largest art show, will be held at London's Alexandra Palace from 30 November to 3 December.