A Picasso study of his lover Marie-Th�r�se Walter has sold for �4.4m in London.

The painting, 1932's Femme dans un fauteuil, was sold at Christie's in London in a sale of impressionist and modern art on Monday.

The painting was expected to fetch between �4m and �6m before the sale.

Another of Picasso's paintings, Femme assise dans un fauteuil, sold for �1.76m.

There were seven Picasso paintings in the sale.

Femme dans un fauteuil was sold to a buyer from the "European trade", a spokeswoman for Christie's said.

The auction house had hoped to make more than �50m from the impressionist and modern art sales, and another sale of Austrian and German art.

Sister piece

But it only raised �34m, with �18.3m coming from the modern art sale.

The sale also featured work by Works by Cezanne, Degas, Duffy, van Gogh and Monet.

A spokeswoman for Christies said the painting came from Picasso's 1932 "golden period", when he painted a number of pictures of a seated Walter.

"We sold another of the paintings, a sister piece Nu au collier (Nude With Necklace), which went for �15m last June", she said.

She said the painting had received a number of other bidders. It had last been sold in 1995 and had been on the market only twice in the last few decades, she said.