A PAINTING by the artistic director of the Harry Potter series of films is taking pride of place in a Dundee gallery.
Fiona Henzie, of art24sevenMedia on South Tay Street, came by the picture after a chance meeting with an old school friend.
The Billiard Room is an oil painting by Neil Lamont, who has worked on some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters.
Fiona said: “I bumped into someone from primary school in a coffee shop and he asked me how I was and what I was up to.
“I explained that I had just embarked on a new venture organising events, exhibitions and workshops and that I had just opened premises in Dundee.
“A friend who was with him asked if I dealt in original art and I told him I did.”
The man scrolled down the images on his mobile phone and showed Fiona a picture of a painting.
She said: “He told me he was looking for a new home for it and that it was painted by Neil Lamont.
“I had to admit that I had never heard of him.”
It turned out that Neil Lamont was the art director of the Harry Potter films, among others.
Fiona said: “The person in the coffee shop had been put in charge of the painting by a friend who had moved abroad.
“I thought ‘Wow, I’ve got to have this’. It really is no ordinary painting.
“We are now looking for a new home for it ourselves and the price is available on application.
“It might be of interest to collectors of Harry Potter memorabilia.”
As well as being the supervising art director of the Harry Potter series, Neil Lamont filled the same role on the James Bond films GoldenEye, The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day, plus the Steven Spielberg movie War Horse.
Earlier in his career he was assistant art director on a number of hit films including Titanic and The English Patient.
The next exhibition at art24sevenMedia starts at the beginning of February and will feature paparazzi images of Marilyn Monroe and other pictures by award-winning photographers.
sgillespie@thecourier.co.uk