He was that most uncommon of artists: achieving fame, influence and fabulous wealth in his own lifetime. Ken Done's breezy paintings of Sydney Harbour sold Australia to the world in the Eighties as it celebrated its bicentenary. His feel for business as well as the brush, translating colourful canvas to tea-towel and pencil sharpener, created a fortune of tens of millions of dollars.

But the colour of his money has faded and he blames the grey men in suits at one of Australia's biggest banks. Done is suing his accountant, accountancy firm and the Commonwealth Bank for A$53 million (£24 million), claiming that bad financial advice has cost him three quarters of his fortune.

The 67-year-old artist says that he believed his money was in safe hands with experienced managers at leading institutions, including Australia's second-biggest bank, and Deutsche Bank, who were buying blue-chip shares in a soaring stock market.

Done, a painter of blunt brushstrokes and dashing colours, says that he specified only 20 per cent of his money was to be invested in speculative ventures. Had his wishes been followed between 2001 and 2005, he and his wife, Judith, would have had a trust fund worth A$61.5 million.

Instead of his money being invested in household names and companies with histories of healthy returns, it was whittled away on risky loans and stakes in little-known firms that failed, he says. These included stakes in two soccer teams, a beauty spa and a Maltese biotechnology company.

It was only in April 2005, when he received an alarming call from a director of a company he had unwittingly invested in, that he began to investigate his affairs. To his dismay he found that many of the shares were worthless and various unauthorised loans to individuals could not be recovered. Done also complains that he was misled by false accounting entries in monthly performance statements and paid almost A$2 million in fees.

He still owns various properties, including an exclusive home beside the harbour that features in his most recognisable works, but the once overflowing pot has been drained to just A$8 million.

The Commonwealth Bank disputes the claims, saying that it did provide some advice but did not make the investment decisions. They were made by the accountancy firm and the accountant, it said.

Done left school at 14 to study art and made his fortune by licensing his naïve and cheerful works for use on merchandise including clothing and homewares. He reached the height of his appeal in the 1980s when he captured the zeitgeist of brash optimism, cashing in on tourist appeal of his images of Australian landmarks and beach culture.

Done's signature depiction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, stylised in the 2000 Olympic Games logo, became so widely reproduced that some regarded it as a symbol of Australia itself. But critical praise has largely eluded him.

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