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Rare Gandhi Portrait Smashes Estimate to Sell for Nearly £153,000
UNITED KINGDOM, JUL 16 – The 1931 oil portrait, believed to be the only one Gandhi sat for, sold for £152,800, more than double its estimate, highlighting its historical and artistic significance.
- On July 15, Bonhams auction house sold a rare oil portrait of Mahatma Gandhi for £152,800, more than twice its estimate, in London.
- Introduced by Henry Noel Brailsford, the artist, in 1931, the portrait remained in Leighton's collection until her death in 1989.
- Bonhams notes the portrait is the only oil Gandhi sat for, and according to the artist's family, it showed knife damage from a 1974 attack by an RSS activist; a label confirms it was restored in 1974 by the Lyman Allyn Museum Conservation Laboratory.
- Bonhams said the record-breaking sale illustrates how Gandhi's legacy continues to inspire reverence beyond borders, with Rhyanon Demery calling the piece `exceptional` for its rarity and subject.
- This sale marks the portrait's first auction appearance, highlighting Gandhi's unique legacy in political portraiture, as noted by Bonhams.
42 Articles
42 Articles
Mahatma Gandhi leads India into independence in 1947 with non-violent resistance to British colonial rule. In his lifetime, the Indian freedom fighter only stood as a model for a portrait himself. Now the work for a large sum has come under the hammer in London.
A rare portrait of Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the fight for independence in India, was sold in London for the amount of 176,626 euros, twice the original estimate, announced the house of the bid Bonhams, mentioned by AFP and Agerpres. The table was made in 1931 by artist Clare Leighton and is considered the only port in oil for which Gandhi once placed.
Artwork of 1931 by British-American artist Claire Leighton (ANSA)
A rare oil portrait of Mahatma Gandhi has sold at a London auction house for a record £200,000, nearly three times its estimated price.
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