Gandhi portrait sells for £152,800

Leighton was arguably 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, stated: “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.

Clare Leighton (British, 1898-1989), Portrait of Mahatma Gandhi, 1931. (Photo: Bonhams)

The details note that the canvas was exhibited in November 1931 at the Albany Galleries in Sackville Street, London. Journalist Winifred Holtby, who attended the opening, wrote about the event in the trade union magazine The Schoolmistress. Though Gandhi reportedly did not attend the party, Holtby described Leighton’s work in detail. The Bonhams website quotes him writing: “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 as I saw him when he came as guest to a big luncheon in Westminster at which I was present a little while ago. 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.”

Later, Gandhi’s personal secretary, Mahadev Desai, also wrote a letter to Leighton, a copy of which is attached to the backing board. 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 it being reproduced.”

Also exhibited at the Boston Public Library in 1978, the Bonhams note mentions that Leighton’s family recalls the portrait being displayed in 1974, “when it was attacked with a knife by an RSS activist”. It further states that though there is no documentation to corroborate this event, the painting does show signs of restoration at several places and has a label attached to the backing board that confirms that the painting was restored in 1974 by the Lyman Allyn Museum Conservation Laboratory.