One of the paintings, by David Roberts, now with rightful owners National Galleries of Scotland. © The Art Fund

The Art Fund turned from national art charity to detective in a turn of events that nearly saw the rightful owners lose out on a valuable collection of paintings.

The National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) have now welcomed the works, which were left to them via The Art Fund in a will in 1998.

Suspicions were aroused following the death of artist and collector Helen Guiterman, who had bequested six oil paintings and 51 watercolours by Victorian artist David Roberts to The Art Fund in her will. She had agreed with the charity that they would be given to the National Galleries of Scotland, to complement their existing collection by the Scottish artist.

However, the paintings, valued at £501,350 never materialised, leading The Art Fund into its investigations.

The trail led back to one Shaun Gray, grandson of Guiterman's cousin. He claimed to be her executor, and indeed had power of attorney signed by the deceased in 1997, but when questioned gave varying accounts of what had happened to the collection. Eventually, he backtracked and told the charity that Helen Guiterman had changed her will, and had not, in fact, left the paintings to The Art Fund.

The acquisitions are several years late due to the fraudster who attempted to get his hands on them. © The Art Fund

The alarm was raised, and, following extensive police investigations, aided by HM Revenue and Customs, Gray pleaded guilty to charges of forging the will and false accounting. He was given a three-year prison sentence for his deeds, in which he attempted to sign over Helen Guiterman's entire estate to himself.

It has taken two years since then for the paintings to be legally assigned to the National Galleries of Scotland, during which time The Art Fund rescued them and arranged for their care.

“Helen Guiterman was a devoted collector of the work of David Roberts, who, during his lifetime, was one of the best-known and most influential 19th century British artists," said David Barrie, Director of The Art Fund.

"The Art Fund has gone to great lengths to ensure that her generous wishes are fulfilled and I’m delighted that this impressive collection will at last join the National Galleries of Scotland.”

The 19th century Scottish artist David Roberts, born in 1796, was popular and critically acclaimed during his lifetime. Yet he had tended to be overlooked until the extensive research of artist and enthusiast Helen Guiterman.

The paintings will go on show in 2009. © The Art Fund

Roberts (1796-1864), the son of a shoemaker based near Edinburgh, was an apprentice herald painter, then a house painter and theatre scene painter before he submitted paintings for exhibition in the 1820s.

He was the first independent, professional artist to travel so widely in the Near East. Following extended trips to Spain and Egypt he created a large collection of material, prints of which brought him widespread acclaim.

Helen, a graduate of the Slade School, became interested in Roberts in the 1960s after acquiring two works by him. Finding little information about him, though, she spent 30 years researching his life and work. She traced his descendants and surviving journals and letters, and travelled to many of the places he painted. She selected and catalogued three exhibitions of his work, including a full retrospective at the Barbican in 1986.

Drawings from the David Roberts collection will be included in the exhibition 'Imagining Spain: From Goya to Picasso, The British and Spain’ from July to October 2009 at the National Gallery Complex.

The Art Fund (www.artfund.org) provides an important service to collectors who wish to give or bequeath works to public collections. It is uniquely placed to help donors identify the ideal recipient or recipients for a single work of art or collections of works and is committed to ensuring that museums and galleries care for the works and respect donor’s wishes in perpetuity.