Rolf - so famous he must have painted the 'Water Lilies'

The Rolf Harris effect may have gone too far. Last month a collector paid £95,000 for one of his paintings and almost 10 per cent of people in Britain believe the Australian entertainer was responsible for Monet's Water Lilies.

A survey out today says many people cannot tell a Hockney from a Hirst or a Munch from a Monet. It appears that Harris's efforts on the BBC to popularise great artists have served only to raise his profileabove those of the painters he sought to honour.

Nearly half of those asked did not know who produced Mona Lisa. Over half could not identify John Constable as the artist responsible for The Hay-Wain and 9 per cent thought Botticelli, the master of the Florentine Renaissance, was responsible forA Bigger Splash by David Hockney.

The survey for Encyclopaedia Britannica questioned 500 people to mark the launch of its newly revised 2004 DVD edition. While 78 per cent said art played a vital role 43 per cent never stepped inside a gallery."Half the country's 18- to 24-year-olds hold some type of art qualification yet their ... knowledge is noticeably poorer than their parents'," a spokesman said.