Last David Paynter painting recovered after buyer returns work to Police

The last of 11 art works by the late David Paynter which had been sold in violation of his sister's wishes has been recovered. 

'Cotton Tree in Bloom' painted in 1950 was returned by its buyer. He handed it over to the police on Tuesday after reading in the Sunday Times of November 22 that it was missing from the collection. 

The nine paintings and two illustrations were sold by Prof. Albert Dharmasiri--himself a respected artist and academic--in violation of the wishes of Mr Paynter's sister, Evangeline Darling. Her last will stipulated that they, along with several of his other works, be “exhibited in a separate room in the Department of Painting and Sculpture of the Institute of Aesthetic Studies of the University of Kelaniya”.

Prof. Dharmasiri had taken over 19 paintings from the Paynter Home, an orphanage founded in 1924 by Reverend Arnold Paynter, David’s older brother. He had promised to transfer them to the Faculty of Visual Arts of the University of the Visual and Performing Arts (as it is now known) within a year. He also undertook to set up a permanent gallery for them. 

It surfaced, however, that he had sold them as he "needed money". He was produced before the Nuwara Eliya magistrate last week and released on bail.