Owning a Monet or Rembrandt is out of reach for all but the most well-heeled investors.

However a new online marketplace promises to give art lovers the chance to buy shares in famous paintings.

A British technology start-up is raising funds to launch an eBay-like website where investors can buy and sell shares in works of art.

The service will be underpinned by Blockchain, the same secure database technology that lies behind the digital currency Bitcoin and creates a registry of all transactions.

Maecenas, which has raised £200,000 from Swiss venture capitalists Polytech and plans to raise the same amount again on crowdfunding site Seedrs, says it is working with galleries and collectors hoping to sell shares in their works ahead of a launch in August, and has a shortlist of artworks due to be listed.

It comes after last week’s record-breaking $110.5m (£85m) sale of a painting by Jean-Michael Basquiat. The sale to a Japanese buyer was a record for a US artist and the most ever paid for a painting made after 1980. Investors are hoping the deal will reignite the art market after a slump in 2016, in which the number of paintings sold for $10m halved from 160 to 80.