EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: £300m Damien Hirst claimed £1.3m in Covid furlough payments despite his business making £18.2m during the pandemic

By RICHARD EDEN FOR THE DAILY MAIL

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As the world's richest artist, Damien Hirst gives his pet dogs seats on private jets, gives his girlfriend designer gear and even installed a stripper pole at his £36 million London pad.

None of that, however, deterred him from turning to the hard-pressed taxpayer during the pandemic.

I can reveal that Hirst, whose fortune is estimated at almost £300 million, claimed more than £1.3 million in furlough payments from the Government.

RICHARD EDEN: I can reveal that Hirst, whose fortune is estimated at almost £300 million, claimed more than £1.3 million in furlough payments from the Government

RICHARD EDEN: I can reveal that Hirst, whose fortune is estimated at almost £300 million, claimed more than £1.3 million in furlough payments from the Government

Buried away in newly filed accounts for his company, Science (UK) Ltd, is the disclosure that he claimed £1.31 million from the Covid job retention scheme.

Referring to the figure, the accounts state: 'Government grants receivable are in relation to furlough claims.'

The artist, 56, famed for preserving dead animals in formaldehyde, made the claim even though his business made £18.2 million during the pandemic. 

The accounts reveal that turnover rose by £7 million from £11.2 million in the first months of the crisis.

The figures for 2020 show the company made a pre-tax profit of almost £3.5 million.

Hirst lives with his girlfriend Sophie Cannell, 28 years his junior, and their three French bulldogs, Pablo, Chapo and Blanco, at his 14-bedroom home in Regent's Park.

His company makes art which is then sold on to his offshore parent company, Science Ltd, based in Jersey. 

As the world’s richest artist, Damien Hirst gives his pet dogs seats on private jets, gives his girlfriend designer gear and even installed a stripper pole at his £36 million London pad. Pictured: A visitor to the Brooklyn Museum of Art looks at Hirst's The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, part of the Sensation exhibit in New York, 1999

As the world's richest artist, Damien Hirst gives his pet dogs seats on private jets, gives his girlfriend designer gear and even installed a stripper pole at his £36 million London pad. Pictured: A visitor to the Brooklyn Museum of Art looks at Hirst's The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, part of the Sensation exhibit in New York, 1999

Damien Hirst's Art work appears at the Saatchi Gallery Opening in County Hall on April 16, 2003 in London

Damien Hirst's Art work appears at the Saatchi Gallery Opening in County Hall on April 16, 2003 in London

The Turner Prize-winner employs a factory of assistants to help with the creation of his mass-produced works, and is candid in saying that he sees his art as 'a brand produced in a factory'.

A note in the accounts for Science (UK) says: 'The Covid-19 pandemic has created significant operational and financial pressures on the group and the art market more generally.'

Last year, it was reported that the company was given a £15 million business interruption loan from the Government's emergency Covid-19 funds.

The former enfant terrible of British art created a platinum skull encrusted with 8,601 flawless diamonds and sold it for an astonishing £50 million. However, in January I reported that the work, called For The Love Of God, was never properly sold.