The 18 x 15in (46 x 38cm) watercolour depicts the centenarian Patrick Gibson, a purser in the Royal Navy who claimed to have been 111 years old when he died in 1831. An inscription to the frame reads Mr Patrick Gibson Died at the Age 111 Years by A R Burt RA 1830.
It was painted by the English engraver and portraitist Albin R Burt (1783-1842), best known for his portrait of Emma Hamilton which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1830, the same year he painted Gibson.
Consigned by a local collector, it sold in excess of the £800-1200 guide to a buyer on the south coast for £2000 on March 30.
Another portrait of the sitter, dated c.1830, by the littleknown painter Luke Macartan (fl. c.1830) resides in the collection of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.
