Mumbai, April 7 : Austrian artist Helmut Zwerger has gifted batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar a seven-feet-high and five-feet-wide portrait of him,which now enjoys pride of place in the Little Master's living room, says a media report.
Art collector Aakif Habib,who owns the art brand Zwerger, says: "In 2010, Helmut Zwerger held an exhibition of his work at the Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai.
"Sachin's mother-in-law Annabel Mehta heard of this and liked his work, and got in touch with us.
"The artist began his work without meeting Sachin, a year ago.
"While Zwerger worked in Mumbai, Annabel, Sachin's wife Anjali and daughter Sara went over to his Bandra studio to see him work."
Says Zwerger : "They were overwhelmed by what they saw. Sara took a picture with her cellphone and sent it to Sachin, who was delighted with the result.
"He sent me a message appreciating my art, and wrote, absolutely loved the painting.
"I have absolutely no clue about cricket. I just thought he was such a great man.
"You know, many people have dreams, but to have that combination of hard work, talent and luck to realise them, that takes something.
"To dream is one thing, to make it, is another.
Sachin Tendulkar has been included in the league of people painted by Helmut Zwerger many of whose portraits have even done the rounds of outer space.
Zwerger is the first artist to have exhibited in a gallery in space.
In 2003, his portraits of tenor artist Luciano Pavarotti, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and US Senator and astronaut John Glenn were shuttled off to the International Space Station.
The portraits were in the space gallery for 200 days, covering a distance of 150 million kilometers roughly the distance between the earth and the sun.
Other Indian names painted by Zwerger include the Big B,Rajinikanth and Salman Khan.
