Портрет The Beatles Питера Блейка, под которым они не подписались

Painting of Beatles among £5m donation

A painting of The Beatles - which the Fab Four refused to sign when they saw the end result - is one of 600 works that has been donated to the nation.

Artist Peter Blake took five years to complete the painting, which he started in 1963, using photographs of the band taken in 1962 as source material.

But by the time Blake had finished the canvas in 1968, The Beatles' had undergone a change in image.

Blake, famous for creating the cover design of The Beatles Sgt Pepper album, had used pictures from the year the band, seen in suits and pudding bowl haircuts, released their first single, Love Me Do.

By 1968 Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were two years from splitting up and had been through their hippy phase.

The white rectangular spaces on the top of each figure, which was planned for the musicians' signatures, still stands empty on the canvas, entitled The 1962 Beatles.

The work is part of the £5 million collection donated to the Pallant House Gallery, in Chichester, by Colin St John Wilson.

Prof Wilson, who designed the British Library, knew or had close relationships with all but two of the artists represented in the collection.

He said: "Peter Blake took so long to do the painting. He didn't finish it until 1968. By the time he did finish it, The Beatles wouldn't sign it, because they said they didn't look like that anymore.

"They were all beads and beards by that time, but I think their decision shows a remarkable lack of a sense of humour."

Peter Blake, The Beatles, 1963, akryl 122 x 91 cm,

Peter Blake: T Is For The Beatles
103 x 77.5cm

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