A rare photograph of Florence Nightingale pictured in bed at her home shortly before she died sold for £6600 yesterday at auction.

A rare photograph of Florence Nightingale pictured in bed at her home shortly before she died sold for £6600 yesterday at auction.

The black and white image shows the nursing pioneer - known as the Lady with the Lamp - in the bedroom of her home close to London's Park Lane before her death in 1910 at the age of 90.

The snap was taken by Lizzie Caswall Smith, who was a noted studio photographer in the early-1900s.

It is one of the few images captured of the iconic figure, who was shy of publicity.

The photograph went under the hammer yesterday afternoon at auctioneers Dreweatts' Donnington Priory saleroom near Newbury, Berkshire.

The lot included the image, the original negative and a handwritten letter signed by Nightingale and had been expected to fetch between £300 and £500.

Stephan Ludwig, of Dreweatts, said that the successful bid came from a well-known collector in the south-east.

The image shows a huge mirror at the head of the bedshelf bearing a clock and a row of leather-bound books. On a side table is a vase of flowers. Two silk-shaded reading lamps stand on either side of the bed.