Copying the art world's great paintings

Susie Ray is a copyist artist.

Commissioned by galleries, collectors or just art appreciators she meticulously reproduces paintings from the past.

Each reproduction can take up to three months to complete and Ray uses the same techniques as the original artist, right down to their signature.

However authentic each painting looks from the front, once turned around it is signed by Ray, as she is eager to point out: "I'm a legal copyist, not a forger".

A finished copy can cost anywhere between £600 for a sketch and £9,000 for a painting, depending on how long it has taken Ray to complete.

Her work is on permanent display at her gallery in Padstow in Cornwall, just minutes from her nearby studio, where Ray showed BBC News how she copies a classic.

Video Journalist: Alex Stanger