A painting by one of the leading female artists of the 20th Century has sold for a record price.

Dame Laura Knight's artwork, 'Hop Picking', fetched £74,000 at a Cotswold auction.

The piece was listed in the auction catalogue with an estimate of £15,000-£20,000 but, after much pre-sale interest, it was predicted the work would exceed expectations.

Online, room and phone bidders battled it out but it was a UK-based anonymous buyer who placed the winning bid.

A key figure in the British Impressionist movement, Dame Laura was born in Derbyshire and is known for breaking into the male-dominated art world and paving the way for future female artists.

She developed an interest in ballet and circus folk, and befriended and painted groups of gypsies during the 1930s.

Her oil painting sold in the Cotswolds was consigned by a Herefordshire-based private client whose family had inherited it and offered it at Gloucestershire auctioneers Kinghams.

It is thought to depict gypsy hop pickers of Worcestershire and originate from the late 1930s.

A boy in the foreground pulls the viewer into the scene, where his family works diligently in the background.

Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1971, the painting measures 75cm by 62cm.

Dame Laura was one of the most successful female British painters of her era, working in oils, watercolours and print techniques.