A PORTRAIT that has hung in North Yorkshire for more than 200 years has been sold at auction for more than £10m.

Omai, a painting of a Tahitian native, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, used to grace the walls of Castle Howard, near Malton, and had been owned by the family since 1796.

It went under the hammer at Sotheby's, in London, and fetched £10,343,500 - a record for the artist.

Competitive bidding between art dealer Guy Morrison and a millionaire art collector sent the price beyond the estimate of between £6m and £8m.

It was the highest price for a work of art in Europe this year and the second most expensive British painting, trailing just behind John Constable's The Lock, which reached £10.9m in 1990.

The portrait, measuring 57ins, was put on the market by Simon Howard, who runs the North Yorkshire estate, for tax reasons.

The subject of the painting was an assistant to the Queen of Tahiti who sailed to Britain with Captain Cook in 1774.

During his three-year visit he was granted an audience with George III and showered with gifts.

His portrait has been described as one of the icons of 18th Century art, and shows Omai in flowing white robes.

Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was the leading artist of his day and the first president of the Royal Academy, originally painted the portrait for himself.

It remained in his personal collection until he died in 1792. Four years later, in 1796, it was bought by Frederick Howard, the fifth Earl of Carlisle, and had remained in the family ever since.

Earlier this year, a recently discovered drawing by Michelangelo was sold at auction by Castle Howard for £6m.