A painting of Ely Cathedral has gone on display in King’s Lynn Town Hall after it was donated by a 102-year-old woman.
The painting by artist Walter Dexter, who is regarded as King’s Lynn’s most important 20th century painter, was donated to the Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk by Emma Simmonds, whose father was a friend and patron of Mr Dexter.
The ‘Ely Cathedral’ painting is the third Dexter painting donated by Mrs Simmonds.
The other two paintings, ‘View of King’s Lynn from the West’ and ‘Common Staithe Quay’ were donated by Mrs Simmonds in 1998.
Mrs Simmonds, now 102, was unable to travel to King’s Lynn to see her painting in the town hall, but will receive a photographic record of its return to her home town.
The painting ‘Ely Cathedral’ is typical of Dexter’s atmospheric and accomplished style. Painted in the 1940s, it travelled to South Africa as a gift to Mrs Simmonds’ brother. Upon his death it was returned to her.
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