Peter Howson, exhibiting six pieces of a dead Pete Doherty.

"His spiral downwards reminds me of what I went through myself and I can identify with the way he is acting," said Howson, a noted painter since the 1980s.

"Me wanting to paint him dead was pointing the finger at him and saying 'You can influence a whole generation'. He could, if he wanted to, become the right kind of hero."

A representative for the singer said: "Peter Howson has never met Pete as far as I am aware, so I don't know where he's getting his inspiration from.

"We have not seen the drawings and I don't see how Peter knows that much about Pete's lifestyle."

Image WENN