A hand-colored Madonna image by Edvard Munch sold for £1.25 million ($1.9 million) at a Bonhams sale in London on Tuesday - twice its lower estimate, making it the the second most expensive print to be sold in the world.

An American private collector snapped up the once-controversial artwork which depicts Munch's mistress, Dagny Juel, a femme fatale who, after numerous ill-fated affairs, was shot dead by a young lover in at hotel room at age 33.

Munch's Vampire II sold in Oslo in 2007 for around £1,256,000.

This rare-to-market image is a first impression, signed and dated 1895, and owned by the same family for over 100 years.