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)