Joe Lycett sold a portrait of Harry Styles to the singer for £6 and a Kit Kat Chunky Peanut Butter.
Last week, it was announced that the former One Direction star had visited Hockney’s art studio in Normandy, France to sit for a portrait.
The painting – which sees Styles wearing an orange and red cardigan and a pearl necklace – is one of more than 30 new works, which will be displayed at London’s National Portrait Gallery in November.
In the wake of the news, Lycett, 35, decided to share his own take on the piece.
Over the weekend, the comedian shared a photograph of his painting on Instagram accompanied by a lengthy caption in which he joked that Styles, 29, had come to his holiday home in Padstow to pose for it.
Lycett went on to say that the “Watermelon High” singer’s management were unhappy with the final piece because it looked like “Jeremy Beadle’s face on a f***ing egg”.
The post caught the attention of Styles, who directly messaged Lycett on the social media platform hoping to acquire the piece for himself.
Lycett shared a screenshot of their hilarious exchange on Instagram, where he has 1.3 million followers.
“I think it’s incredibly important that I purchase this portrait from you. If you’d ever consider parting with this masterpiece I’d like to hang it in my home immediately,” Styles messaged the comedian.
“I’ll give it to you for £8. There’s no curry left sadly,” replied Lycett, referencing an ongoing joke about curry in his post’s original caption.
Styles made a counter offer of £6, to which Lycett responded: “£6.50 final offer. Or £6 and a KitKat Chunky Peanut Butter.”
“They’re not 50p but I’ll say deal,” said the Grammy winner. A single KitKat Chunky Peanut Butter is commonly sold for £0.75.
Lycett captioned the post detailing their exchange: “Long story short I just organised a £6 BACS transfer with Harry Styles.”
The Birmingham-born comedian is known for trolling Tory politicians, after jokingly declaring himself to be “very right wing” and a big supporter of then-prime minister Liz Truss during an appearance on Laura Kuenssberg’s BBC politics show last year.
David Hockney painting a portrait of Harry Styles (JP Goncalves de Lima/David Hockney/PA)— (PA Media)
After Kuenssberg’s interview with Truss came to an end, Lycett could be heard cheering off-screen, shouting: “You smashed it, Liz!”
Lycett proceeded to sarcastically share his candid thoughts about Truss and the Tory government, but joked they were not his own sentiments as he is “extremely right-wing”.
The comedian later explained that he’d mocked Truss due to anger over the Partygate scandal, as his best friend died at the start of lockdown and wasn’t able to have a proper funeral.
The following month, he published an open letter to Truss by way of a full-page advertisement in her local paper, in which he referred to himself as “right-wing comedian and passionate Liz Truss supporter Joe Lycett”.
Hockney’s portrait will be displayed for the first time as part of David Hockney: Drawing from Life, which opens on 2 November at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
