A portrait depicting Michael Jackson on horseback, dressed in regal garb and attended by two cherubs, has been sold at auction for $175,000, a US art gallery said.

“Equestrian Portrait of King Philip II,” commissioned by the late pop star, who died on June 25, was sold to a German collector at the Art Basel show, said Kathy Grayson from New York’s Deitch Projects gallery.

The large portrait, which Jackson never saw in its finished form, measures 3.51 (11.5 feet) by 3.1 meters (10.1 feet), and is the work of New York-based artist Kehinde Wiley.

Equestrian Portrait of King Philip II, Kehinde Wiley

“I was receiving messages saying Michael Jackson wants to reach you,” said Wiley of being commissioned for the work in 2008. “I ignored them because quite honestly I thought it was a prank.”

Telegraph.co.uk Article