DAMIEN HIRST is being accused once again of having copied another artist’s work.

Six years after making a payment to a designer over claims that he copied a £14.99 plastic toy, Hirst is now facing allegations over his print Valium.

Robert Dixon, 59, a computer graphics artist and former research associate at the Royal College of Art, says that Valium, which was created six years ago, bears unmistakable similarities to his drawing, True Daisy, which appeared on page 74 of the Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Geometry, published in 1991.

Last week he contacted Hirst, who won the Turner Prize in 1995. Demanding financial compensation and an acknowledgement of his artistic contribution to Valium, Mr Dixon wrote: “Your drawing is not merely the same pattern, but is made by copying my drawing. Your artwork is practically dependent on my artwork.

“I conceived, calculated, formulated and programmed the Penguin drawing. You did not. You copied an arrangement of ink from a page.”

Although Valium is larger than his image, Mr Dixon discovered that it is a mirror-image of True Daisy, with exactly the same number of spots. When he superimposed the two designs, he was struck by how they corresponded precisely, although Hirst’s version is in colour. He said: “This makes it a tracing. I realised it was a copy straight away. If you were drawing that pattern, the chances of drawing the same number of spots are very tiny.”

Mr Dixon’s original drawing was based on a mathematical model inspired by his extensive study of a daisy, the natural pattern of which is different from any known concentric pattern in art or architecture. After some time trying to draw the pattern by traditional means, he drew it on a computer.

His study was first published in 1985 in Micromath magazine, before appearing in the Penguin publication. He went on to explore variations on the theme in his book Mathographics, which teaches children to draw on computers.

Mr Dixon says that Valium — produced in an edition of 500 which have each sold for four and five-figure sums — is the second work that Hirst has based on one of his drawings. Three years ago he discovered that a circular pattern that Hirst produced for a children’s colouring book was “virtually identical” to True Daisy.

When he contacted Hirst in 2003, he was taken aback by the response that he claims to have received by e-mail from the artist’s manager, Frank Dunphy. Apparently unaware of Mr Dixon’s involvement with the Penguin publication, Mr Dunphy said that Hirst had drawn inspiration from a book given to him by a friend. That book, Mr Dunphy added, was The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Geometry.

He added that he had obtained a copy of Mathographics: “I can categorically state, however, that Mr Hirst was not aware of your work or your book until recently.”

Mr Dixon told The Times: “So Hirst’s manager wrote back to say the drawing was ‘nothing to do with you’, not realising that it was.” He added that he would be prepared to grant permission for Hirst to use his design “in exchange for suitable payment and full acknowledgement as the primary artist”.

Mr Dunphy, Hirst and his dealer, White Cube, all declined to comment yesterday.

Hirst is no stranger to plagiarism claims. Six years ago he was threatened with legal action over claims that his £1 million sculpture, Hymn, a 20ft (6.1m) bronze of a torso that he sold to Charles Saatchi, was reproduced from a plastic toy. He agreed eventually to make donations to two children’s charities and a “goodwill payment” to the original designer, Norman Emms.

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