A PORTRAIT of Colin Firth as Jane Austen's Mr Darcy was auctioned for £12,000 at Bonhams today, double its estimated price.

Even before the sale began, the painting was subject to a number of advance bids, a spokesman for the London auction house said.

The oil painting, which shows the actor gazing soulfully through the canvas in full period costume, featured in the fourth episode of the BBC drama Pride and Prejudice, in which Elizabeth visits Darcy's ravishing country estate, Pemberley.

It was accompanied at auction by a signed letter from Firth, who caused women nationwide to swoon collectively when he emerged from a lake tousled and dripping in a wet shirt during the same episode.

The actor wrote: ''The painting was basically a bit part player in episode four of the BBC's 1995 production of Pride and Prejudice.

''Looking at him now I would say he has weathered better than most of us. In fact, he is the only character you can meet in person who looks precisely as he did the day he was filmed.

''Whatever you think of him today, you can consider yourselves fortunate to have been spared his earliest incarnation. Mr Darcy mark one came across as a shabby, insubstantial, derelict looking actor.''

The so called ''wet shirt scene'', which comes just after Elizabeth is shown gazing dreamily at the portrait hanging in Pemberley's Great Hall, is credited with being one of the most unforgettable moments in British TV history.

Julian Roup, a spokesman for Bonhams, said: ''This painting sold for double its estimated value for the simple reason that the series so captured the heart of the viewing public, particularly the fairer sex.''

Between 10 and 11 million people watched the original six-episode broadcast of Pride and Prejudice on BBC One on Sunday evenings in 1995.

When the series was released on VHS, all 12,000 copies of the double-video set sold out within two hours.

The proceeds from the sale of the coveted Darcy portrait, painted by an unknown artist, will be shared between Oxfam and the Southampton and Winchester Visitors Group.

It was sold as part of the annual Gentleman's Library auction at Bonhams.