LONDON, July 16: A rare oil portrait of Mahatma Gandhi—believed to be the only one he ever sat for—has fetched £152,800 at a Bonhams auction in London, more than triple its estimated price. The painting, by British artist Clare Leighton, was the top lot in Bonhams’ Travel and Exploration sale, which closed Tuesday.
“This was a very special work,” said Rhyanon Demery, Head of Sale at Bonhams. “Completed in London by Clare Leighton—who is better known for her wood engravings—this painting stands as a testament to Gandhi’s ability to connect with people across the world and remains a powerful document of a pivotal moment in history.”
The portrait was painted in 1931 during Gandhi’s visit to London for the Second Round Table Conference. Leighton, then in a relationship with political journalist and Indian independence supporter Henry Noel Brailsford, was introduced to Gandhi through Brailsford, who had met the Mahatma during a visit to India the year before.
Bonhams revealed that Leighton was one of the few artists permitted into Gandhi’s office. She sketched and painted him over multiple sittings. The portrait, never before offered at auction, had been in Leighton’s private collection until her death in 1989 and was passed down through her family.
The painting was first exhibited in November 1931 at Albany Galleries in London. Among the attendees was journalist Winifred Holtby, who wrote vividly about the exhibition in her column for The Schoolmistress. “Members of Parliament and ex-members, artists, journalists and art critics, stood among exquisite Indian women in bright saris,” Holtby wrote. “Mrs Naidu, the statesman-poet, was there… and Sir Purshotamdas Thakurdas, one of the Mahatma’s colleagues.”
Although Gandhi did not attend the show, Holtby noted that “he was vitally present in the works on display.” She described the portrait in striking detail: “The little man squats bare-headed, in his blanket, one finger raised, his lips parted for a word that is almost a smile… He was the political leader there, the subtle negotiator, the manipulator of Congress, the brilliant lawyer.”
Gandhi’s personal secretary, Mahadev Desai, later wrote a letter to Leighton acknowledging the portrait. A copy of the letter is attached to the back of the painting. “It was such a pleasure to have had you here for many mornings doing Mr Gandhi’s portrait… many of my friends who saw it in the Albany Gallery said to me that it was a good likeness,” Desai wrote. “I am quite sure Mr Gandhi has no objection to its being reproduced.”
Though there’s no public record of the portrait being shown again until a 1978 exhibition at the Boston Public Library, Leighton’s family believes it was displayed in 1974, when it was attacked and slashed with a knife. A conservation label confirms the painting was restored the same year at the Lyman Allyn Museum Conservation Laboratory.
“This work sparked global interest not only because of its rarity, but because it captures Gandhi at a time of immense historical consequence,” Demery said. “It’s no surprise it exceeded expectations.”
