The style was unmistakably that of the great French impressionist painter Claude Monet: light and shadows rippling across the peaceful poolside scene, while ex-pertly applied daubs of bright red paint competed playfully for the viewer's attention.

The only giveaway was its price tag: a knockdown £45,000 instead of the expected multimillion-pound sum.

The "Monet" on the walls of Birmingham's Halcyon gallery was not by the French master at all, but a rather more recent work by John Myatt, long known throughout the art world for his masterful forgeries, but now rapidly becoming a collectible painter in his own right.

The Birmingham exhibition, which ends tomorrow,brought together 45 of Mr Myatt's original works, painted in the style of some of the most famous figures in art history, including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Amedeo Modigliani.

Far from being tainted by their lack of originality, nearly all the works have been purchased in the space of 10 days, including the Monet-styled "Water Lilies, 1904", which became the most expensive painting by the artist to be sold.

The success of the show marks a dramatic change in the fortunes of Mr Myatt, who was imprisoned for fraud in 1999 for his part in painting fakes, and profiteering from their sale in the art market.

So convincing were Mr Myatt's copies that more than 200 of them were sold through leading auction houses in London and New York, fooling many experts, despite his use of unconventional materials such as household emulsion paint and K-Y jelly.

He served six months of a 12-month sentence in Brixton prison, where he further practised his skills, earning him the nickname of Picasso.

Today he has gone "legit", presenting the paintings in his own name, and going to extravagant lengths to ensure that they are identified as such to prevent future confusion: some of them have had microchips embedded in them, other are embossed with the artist's logo "JMGF" (John Myatt Genuine Fakes).

Mr Myatt said that most buyers of his work were attracted by the paintings "because they like the look of them. They can't afford the real thing - they probably can't even afford the changing of the door locks and security doors they would need if they bought the real thing."

He has found his own niche in an art market that has seen prices rising almost continuously in recent years. His first "Masters Collection" of limited edition prints sold out almost immediately. Next Wednesday sees the start of his new series on Sky Arts, "Mastering the Art", in which he talks about the tricks of the trade that helped embarrass the art establishment.

In three years' time, he will give up painting in the style of others, and start producing his own original work, he says. "I'm not sure what the style will be," he adds. "But they will be landscapes. I love clouds. Clouds, clouds and more clouds."