Rare sitting Gandhi portrait sold in London for Rs 1.75 cr, double the estimate

A rare portrait of Mahatma Gandhi – for which he agreed to pose while seated – has sold for GBP 152,800 (approximately Rs 1.75 crore) at an auction in London, more than double its initial estimate of GBP 50,000 to GBP 70,000 (approximately Rs 57 lakh to Rs 80 lakh). The portrait was painted in 1931 by British artist Clare Leighton.

According to the auction house, Bonhams, the painting is "thought to be the only oil portrait that Gandhi actually sat for".

"The painting, thought to be the only oil portrait that Gandhi actually sat for, had never before been offered at auction. It had an estimate of GBP 50,000 - 70,000 and was the top lot of the Travel and Exploration sale, which ran from July 7-15 online," the auction house said in a statement.

The rare oil painting was in Leighton's personal collection until her death in 1989, after which it was inherited by her family.

The portrait was created during Gandhi's 1931 visit to London for the second Round Table Conference, a series of conferences organised by the British government to discuss constitutional reforms in India.

Political journalist Henry Noel Brailsford introduced Leighton to Mahatma Gandhi when he visited London in 1931 to attend the Second Round Table Conference. Brailsford supported India's Independence movement.

A BRITISH JOURNALIST's ADULATION FOR GANDHI

In November 1931, Clare Leighton showcased her portrait of Gandhi in an exhibition at the Albany Galleries in London. Journalist Winifred Holtby attended the opening and wrote about the event in her column for the trade union magazine The Schoolmistress, Bonhams said in the statement.

Holtby described Gandhi as a subtle negotiator and brilliant statesman, capturing his iconic gesture and presence at a Westminster luncheon.

"The little man squats bare-headed, in his blanket, one finger raised, as it often is to emphasise a point, his lips parted for a word that is almost a smile. That is very much like I saw him when he came as a guest to a big luncheon in Westminster at which I was present a little while ago," Holtby wrote to describe the painting, according to the Bonhams statement.

He was the political leader there, the subtle negotiator, the manipulator of Congress, the brilliant lawyer, the statesman who knows just how to play on the psychology of friends and enemies alike," Holtby added.

GANDHI's SECRETARY PENNED LETTER EXPRESSING HIS APPRECIATION

Subsequently, Gandhi's personal secretary, Mahadev Desai, sent a letter to Leighton – now affixed to the portrait's backing board – expressing gratitude: "It was such a pleasure to have had you here for many mornings doing Mr Gandhi's portrait."

According to the artist's family, the portrait was thought to have been on public display in 1974 when it was attacked with a knife by an RSS activist. A label attached to the backing board confirms that the painting was restored in 1974 by the Lyman Allyn Museum Conservation Laboratory, the statement read.

In 2017, a rare pencil portrait of Gandhi was auctioned for GBP 32,500 (approximately Rs 37 lakh), about four times its estimated price, according to a report by news agency PTI.

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