'I'm baffled by fury over my nude painting in David Miliband's living room'

An artist whose painting of naked women was photographed at the London home of former foreign secretary David Miliband today hit back at her critics, claiming "they are bothered by nude figures".

When Michelle Dovey's painting featured in the background of a photograph of Mr Miliband and his wife, it was called "middle-brow junk" by one critic.

The £800 piece was bought by Mr Miliband and wife Louise five years ago and hangs in their living room.

Author and cultural critic Stephen Bayley wrote that seeing the painting, which features 13 naked women dancing, was like "finding a severed head in the linen basket".

David Lee, editor of art newspaper The Jackdaw, said: "There is no way I would have that on my wall. It looks as if it ought to be in a pole-dancing club rather than the home of the British foreign secretary."

But artist Dovey, a 38-year-old mother-of-two, said she did not understand why the painting had provoked the critics.

She said: "The level of hatred and anger has been very surprising. I wonder what is going on for them. It is surprising that someone can get so cross about it.

"Some people have been calling it smutty, that it is not what you should have on your wall. That means they are bothered by nude figures, which is interesting."

She said the painting prompted some shock when she did it in 2003 and that she has since moved away from nudes as she did not want to be pigeonholed.

Mr Miliband said it put on a smile on the faces of himself and wife Louise. He said: "I like our naked dancing women more every time people like Stephen Bayley attack it."