A rare oil painting of Mahatma Gandhi by British artist Clare Leighton sold for £152,800 ($204,800) at Bonhams on July 15th, more than triple its low estimate. The work, entitled Portrait of Mahatma Gandhi (1931), carried an estimate of £50,000–£70,000 ($66,800–$93,600). It is thought to be the only oil portrait for which Gandhi sat, and was the top lot in the auction house’s online Travel and Exploration sale, which ran from July 7th to 15th.
The painting depicts Gandhi seated cross-legged, wrapped in a white robe, his head bare and one finger raised as if mid-sentence. Leighton painted Gandhi while he visited London to attend the second Round Table Conference. At the time, she was living with political journalist Henry Noel Brailsford, an advocate for Indian independence who had met Gandhi the previous year. Brailsford’s connections allowed Leighton to meet with Gandhi, who permitted her to sketch him over multiple sessions. This portrait was featured in an exhibition at the Albany Galleries in London in 1931.
Leighton finished this portrait in London, and it remained in her collection until she died in 1989, when it was passed to her family. “This work was a testament to Gandhi’s power to connect with people far and wide, and presented a lasting document of an important moment in history,” said Rhyanon Demery, Bonhams’s head of sale.
A month after Leighton completed the portrait, Gandhi’s secretary sent her a letter, a copy of which is attached to the back of the painting. It reads: “It was such a pleasure to have had you here for many mornings doing Mr. Gandhi’s portrait. I am sorry I didn’t see the final result, but many of my friends who saw it in the Albany Gallery said to me that it was a good likeness. I am quite sure Mr. Gandhi has no objection to its being reproduced.”
There is no official record of the work being displayed again until 1978 at a solo exhibition of Leighton’s work mounted by the Boston Public Library. According to the auction house, the artist’s family noted that the portrait was on display in 1974. During that time, the painting was attacked by a supporter of R.S.S., the Indian right-wing party.
Born in 1898, Leighton formally studied art at Brighton College of Art, the Slade School of Fine Art, and the Central School of Arts and Crafts. She is primarily known for her wood engravings, which she learned under the tutelage of Noel Rooke.
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