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Quinn’s decision to recast Moss in bronze is, he says, an attempt to make her beauty permanent.

“She’s an iconic figure of beauty of our time,” he said. “She’s a kind of Aphrodite figure of our age. There’s something archetypal about her.

“In other times, there may have been people like Marilyn Monroe of the same status. This work is about how we look at beauty.”

Quinn added: “(Moss) does not say much, she does not speak at all. There is a mystery about her, there’s something about her people can imagine.”

Cristina Ruiz, editor of The Art Newspaper, said Moss’s mystique — she rarely gives interviews — might allow artists to view her as “a blank canvas”. “They like the enigma, they can almost project what they like onto her,” she said.

Ruiz likened this phenomenon to the enduring appeal of another famous beauty: Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. “Nobody really knows who she is or why she’s smiling. It’s that mystery that has made that painting famous.”

Critics also believe that in today’s celebrity-obsessed society, it is unsurprising that artists would see Moss as the perfect muse — in contrast to, say, the women painted by Rubens, Titian and Renoir.

“In earlier periods, the great beauties were people from the elite and aristocratic classes,” said Sir Roy Strong, the writer and historian. “But in our age, fashion models have become the icons of beauty to be aspired to.

“Beauty sways between what I call the classic and romantic look. Perhaps Kate Moss is more of an anorexic Aphrodite of our time.”

Moss posed for Quinn about seven months ago, not long before a tabloid newspaper printed pictures of the supermodel allegedly snorting cocaine at a recording studio in west London.

Moss was forced to issue a public apology over the pictures after several fashion companies, including H&M and Burberry, dropped her from lucrative advertising contracts.

Last week Moss returned to Britain for the first time since the scandal broke and was interviewed under caution by detectives. She was not arrested or charged with any offence.

Quinn said the incident had paradoxically increased Moss’s iconic status. “The drugs controversy has not ruined her, it has actually enriched her mystery. It has made her more real, perhaps,” he said.

He later joked: “I can tell you that the statues are not made of cocaine.”

Warren believes Quinn is trying to recreate images of Moss in the same way that Andy Warhol, the American pop artist, captured Monroe in a series of replicated prints.

“But Kate Moss is still alive so they can continue to inspire each other artistically,” said Warren.

Additional reporting: Stacy Irish

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