TWO PAINTINGS ILLUSTRATING SCENES FROM THE VESSANTARA JATAKA Company School, Sri Lanka, mid-19th century Ink and watercolour on paper, the two images showing a sequence of episodes from the story, labelled in Sinhalese with later indistinct English translations, framed 22 x 56.5cm; 21.5 x 56cm (inside mounts) (2) The popular tale of Vessantara or Visvantara, the last incarnation of Buddha before being born as Siddharta, relates the account of the young prince's extreme devotion to acts of charity. As well as money, he gave away his horses, leading the gods to appear as deer to pull his chariot, as shown here, and even his wife and children, shown in the other painting.