London, January 22 : An oil painting of Colin Firth has fetched 12,000 pounds at an auction - almost double its expected price.

The canvas depicts the actor posing as character Darcy from the BBC period adaptation of the novel `Pride and Prejudice', reports Times Online.

Bidders for the portrait battled to own a part of their favourite pin-up of the 1990s, which appears in the fourth episode of the series.

A spokesman for Bonhams auction house revealed that a number of advance bids were made even before it went under the hammer. (ANI)