Artist Graham Ovenden found guilty of indecency against young girls after using nude children in his paintings Ovenden, 70, was not in court when the jury returned their verdict as he has been taken ill He was described by prosecutor as a 'paedophile' who abused children while they modelled for him Found guilty of six counts of indecency with a child and one of indecent assault by jury at Truro Crown Court When police raided celebrated artist Graham Ovenden's home searching for child pornography in 1993, the art world rushed to his defence. His soft-focus, sexually suggestive paintings of naked young girls were found distasteful by many. But his illustrious supporters backed his insistence that "the pervert is the one who puts the fig leaf on, not the one who takes it off." Guilty: Graham Ovenden, 70, was today convicted of four counts of indecency with a child by a jury at Truro Crown Court Accused: Ovenden, 70, still faces five further charges but the jury are still deciding their verdicts In the courtroom, Graham Ovenden painted a picture of 'one of the world's greatest printers', an artist held in such high esteem his works were hung in the finest galleries across the world. Under the early tutelage of the 'godfather of Pop Art' Sir Peter Blake, Ovenden embarked on a career which catalogued life on the streets of London, offered acclaimed landscapes of the countryside, and portraiture of children. He had been tutored by Lord David Cecil and Sir John Betjeman, attended the Southampton School of Art, and graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1968. His work was displayed across the world, including exhibitions at London's Victoria and Albert Museum, The Tate and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In 1975 he founded the artistic movement the Brotherhood of Ruralists - artists who had left the city to live in the countryside. At Barley Splatt, his sprawling estate in the shadow of Bodmin Moor in north Cornwall, greats of the art world would mingle and share ideas with each other, while parents - often single mothers and their children - were also welcome visitors to the property. But by 2013, and long after the height of Ovenden's popularity had faded against a backdrop of police investigations for indecency, the artist's stories of working alongside some of the country's most celebrated visionaries seems like a distant memory. He remains at Barley Splatt, but in a converted outbuilding next to the turreted main home, known as The Garage. His son is estranged, while friends say Ovenden has not sold a painting for some time. Ill health has dogged the 70-year-old, though his acerbic wit has not deserted him. Appearing to revel under the spotlight of giving evidence in his own trial, the bespectacled Ovenden would summon references to the Bible, and to the great authors of times past, in an effort to support his point - that his work, which sometimes featured nude children, was something to behold with admiration as so many had done before, rather than something on which the case against him could be partly based. He also described the 'witch-hunt' against artists brave enough to capture children in 'the state of grace'. During one chapter of the three-week trial, Ovenden even quoted from one of his own books, taking time to read a poem to the jury. Frequently, calmly, he denied repeated prosecution claims that he is a paedophile - that his work demonstrated a sexual interest in children, and that he acted under the veneer of respectability. Ovenden would describe prosecutor Ramsay Quaife's 'visual illiteracy', and would also cite a 'day of reckoning' for the police, including barbed allegations about members of the Metropolitan Police Force who brought the claims against him. Outside the court, during the days of evidence, Ovenden and his supporters said a dossier of evidence would be uploaded to the internet once the trial was over to support his veiled accusations against the police. In convicting him of sexual offences against children, the jury decided the world had heard enough lies. Leading artist David Hockney, Ovenden's former tutor Sir Peter Blake, writer Laurie Lee and the photographer Lucinda Lambton were among those who proclaimed his innocence. Eventually the photographs seized by the police were returned and Ovenden escaped charge. Last night however the artist's mask of respectability was ripped off for good after he was convicted of a string of sex offences against three young girls who posed for him as models. As critics pointed out, his portrait painting had been a ruse to aid his abuse of children. Ovenden, 70, faces jail after being found guilty of six counts of indecency with a child and one count of indecently assaulting a child. The court heard his victims were aged between six and 14 when he abused them after blindfolding them and dressing them in Victorian nightgowns. Now adult women, the victims told how he abused them between 1972 and 1985 at his home studios in London and Cornwall. In some cases the girls were photographed indecently at the same time - and resulting portraits of at least one was then exhibited. At the peak of his popularity, Ovenden's paintings sold for £25,000-a-time and were displayed at London's Victoria and Albert Musueum and the Tate, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. But his victims will be mystified as to why it took almost 20 years to finally bring him to justice. During his three-week trial at Truro Crown Court, Ovenden accepted he had taken photographs of scantily clad and naked children, but denied they were indecent and insisted he had not interfered with any of his underage models. However, prosecutor Ramsay Quaife said his victims gave strikingly similar accounts of abuse. The jury was told he would dress them in Victorian-style nightgowns, then blindfold them and strip them naked. He would abuse them when their eyes were taped shut. Another complainant said she was aged just six and was in a bath with another girl when the artist got in with them and forced her to touch him. Arrogant Ovenden, who graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1968, appeared to revel in the opportunity to defend himself and his art when giving evidence. He boasted he was "one of the world's greatest printers" and in his defence quoted references from the Bible and his own books. Ovenden claimed he was the victim of a "witch hunt" against artists brave enough to capture naked children in "the state of grace" and told police he had created "some of the best portraits of children in the last 200 years." When Mr Quaife said "utterly vile" images found on the artist's computer showed his talk of high art was just a "convenient cover story" for paedophilia, Ovenden said the only problem was the barrister's "visual illiteracy." Mr Quaife said: "The truth is you're sexually besotted with young girls. The proof of your obsessions are your images. Ovenden, who lives near Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, was not in court to hear the verdicts after being taken ill at the weekend. Judge Graham Cottle adjourned sentence. The artist was found not guilty of abusing a fourth girl. In 1995 the Daily Mail revealed detectives had been incensed by the decision to drop child porn ring charges against Ovenden. Three years ago he was cleared of 34 child porn charges. Guilty: Ovenden pictured in his Bodmin studio