See Photo Of The Nigerian Painting That Was Sold For £1.1 Million In London

This is a painting by a Nigerian artist which was reportedly sold for N500 million ( £1.1 million) at an auction in London on Tuesday.

The “African Mona Lisa” as it is popularly known gained prominence after the family that owns it searched for the name of the artist on Google, only to realize his significance.

“Christine”, by 20th century master of African modernism Ben Enwonwu, had been in the sitter’s family home ever since it was painted in Lagos in 1971, France24 reports.

“The family were unaware of the significance of the painting or the importance of the artist, until a chance “googling” of the signature led them to Sotheby’s free Online Estimate Platform,” said the London auction house.

The painting fetched over seven times the pre-auction estimate, finally going under the hammer for £1.1 million (1.3 million euros, $1.4 million).

The work precedes the artist’s 1974 painting of Ife royal princess Adetutu “Tutu” Ademiluyi, which recently turned up in a London flat after not being seen in decades.

The portrait is a national icon in Nigeria, with Booker Prize-winning novelist Ben Okri telling AFP that it was thought of as “the African Mona Lisa”.

Enwonwu, who died in 1994, is considered the father of Nigerian modernism.

He made three paintings of “Tutu”, the locations of all of which had been a mystery until the recent discovery.