Gallipoli painting fetches $112,000

Detail from Simpson and his Donkey, by war artist Horace Moore-Jones

This famous Gallipoli painting by New Zealand war artist Horace Moore-Jones was sold to an anonymous telephone bidder at a Sydney auction last night for A$100,000 ($112,000).

Simpson and his Donkey, showing a man leading a donkey carrying a wounded soldier along a treacherous track, was expected to sell for up to $55,000.

Moore-Jones painted the watercolour in 1920 from a photograph taken during the Gallipoli landing by New Zealand and Australian troops in 1915.

Art historians claim Moore-Jones painted up to six versions. One is at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, on permanent loan from the former Commercial Travellers' Club.

- NZPA