An oil painting of a nude woman went back on show yesterday more than 60 years after it was banned for being “too brazen” – only to receive complaints about it because she is smoking.

The nude, titled D. D. after the initials of the model, was painted by Sir Gerald Kelly, who painted the Royal Family and became president of the Royal Academy.

The portrait was bought by a public gallery in 1947 and more than 20,000 people queued to see it. However, council chiefs in Newport, South Wales, decided that the painting was scandalising their town and ordered that it be taken down.

The picture, which became known as the “Newport Nude”, has been locked in a vault ever since.

Now, as part of an exhibition in Newport called The Art of the Nude, the portrait is still a talking point.

Elizabeth Ayres, 38, a local resident, said: “She’s a bit of a Fag Ash Lil, but I can’t imagine why the painting would be banned.”

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