New Delhi: Raja Ravi Varma's painting 'Yashoda and Krishna' fetched Rs 56 lakh, perhaps a record price for any painting sold in India, at an auction held recently in the capital.

The oil-on-canvas painting by the legendary 19th century artist, estimated at Rs 30- 40 lakh by the auctioneer, Bowrings, fetched Rs 56 lakh, which was also a world record auction price for the artist.

In total, 253 European, modern and contemporary Indian paintings went under the hammer at the auction, realising a total of Rs 4 crore, a press release said.

According to Patrick Bowring, deputy chairman, Bowrings Fine Art Auctioneers, the quality and rarity of the paintings often produced prices well above expectations.

Among other prominent paintings, 'Shakuntala Patralekhan', also by Raja Ravi Varma, fetched Rs 36 lakh while Nicholai Konstantinovitch Roerich's 'Himalayan Series' went for Rs 15 lakh.

Varma's paintings, mostly depicting Hindu deities, elicited a good response. His painting 'Saraswati' was sold for Rs 17 lakh while 'Lakshmi' fetched 19 lakh. 'Kadambari' went under the hammer at Rs 21 lakh.

Some works of M F Hussain were also on offer at the auction. His paintings entitled 'Design for Nursery Furniture' went for Rs 1,10,000 and Rs 70,000.

'Raj Series' and 'Wild Horse', also by Hussain, fetched Rs 1,80,000 and Rs 1,50,000 respectively.

PTI