Painted in 1931, Gandhi rare oil portrait sells for £152,800: three times its marked price

Believed to be the only oil portrait that Mahatma Gandhi ever sat for, British-American artist Clare Leighton's 1931 canvas featuring him sold at an online Bonhams auction for £152,800 (INR17.5 million), inclusive of premium.

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Part of Bonhams 'Travel and Exploration Sale,' the canvas was estimated to fetch £50,000-70,000.

Leighton was introduced to Gandhi through political journalist Henry Noel Brailsford in 1931, when he was in London to attend the Second Round Table Conference. A note by Bonhams states, “She was given the opportunity to sit with him on multiple occasions to sketch and paint his likeness.”

In a pre-sale release, Rhyanon Demery, Bonhams' Head of Sale, said: “Not only is this a rare work by Clare Leighton, who is mainly known for her wood engravings, it is also thought to be the only oil painting of Mahatma Gandhi which he sat for.”

In the collection of the artist until her demise in 1989, the oil painting was later passed down through her family.