diff --git a/include/wx/generic/grid.h b/include/wx/generic/grid.h
index 3411de34ee..6ebf09a1d0 100644
--- a/include/wx/generic/grid.h
+++ b/include/wx/generic/grid.h
@@ -1065,6 +1065,16 @@ public:
         return wxGridCellAttrPtr(GetAttr(row, col, kind));
     }
 
+    // This is an optimization for a common case when the entire column uses
+    // roughly the same attribute, which can thus be reused for measuring all
+    // the cells in this column. Override this to return true (possibly for
+    // some columns only) to speed up AutoSizeColumns() for the grids using
+    // this table.
+    virtual bool CanMeasureColUsingSameAttr(int WXUNUSED(col)) const
+    {
+        return false;
+    }
+
     // these functions take ownership of the pointer
     virtual void SetAttr(wxGridCellAttr* attr, int row, int col);
     virtual void SetRowAttr(wxGridCellAttr *attr, int row);
diff --git a/interface/wx/grid.h b/interface/wx/grid.h
index 33edf24f5f..c15e466735 100644
--- a/interface/wx/grid.h
+++ b/interface/wx/grid.h
@@ -2517,6 +2517,25 @@ public:
         returns @true.
      */
     virtual bool CanHaveAttributes();
+
+    /**
+        Override to return true if the same attribute can be used for measuring
+        all cells in the given column.
+
+        This function is provided for optimization purposes: it returns @false
+        by default, but can be overridden to return @true when all the cells in
+        the same grid column use sensibly the same attribute, i.e. they use the
+        same renderer (either explicitly, or implicitly, due to their type as
+        returned by GetTypeName()) and the font of the same size.
+
+        Returning @true from this function allows AutoSizeColumns() to skip
+        looking up the attribute and the renderer for each individual cell,
+        which results in very noticeable performance improvements for the grids
+        with many rows.
+
+        @since 3.1.4
+     */
+    virtual bool CanMeasureColUsingSameAttr(int col) const;
 };
 
 
diff --git a/src/generic/grid.cpp b/src/generic/grid.cpp
index 80d26edf90..ec102e3f69 100644
--- a/src/generic/grid.cpp
+++ b/src/generic/grid.cpp
@@ -9967,6 +9967,14 @@ wxGrid::AutoSizeColOrRow(int colOrRow, bool setAsMin, wxGridDirection direction)
         col = -1;
     }
 
+    // If possible, reuse the same attribute and renderer for all cells: this
+    // is an important optimization (resulting in up to 80% speed up of
+    // AutoSizeColumns()) as finding the attribute and renderer for the cell
+    // are very slow operations, due to the number of steps involved in them.
+    const bool canReuseAttr = column && m_table->CanMeasureColUsingSameAttr(col);
+    wxGridCellAttrPtr attr;
+    wxGridCellRendererPtr renderer;
+
     wxCoord extent, extentMax = 0;
     int max = column ? m_numRows : m_numCols;
     for ( int rowOrCol = 0; rowOrCol < max; rowOrCol++ )
@@ -10005,8 +10013,12 @@ wxGrid::AutoSizeColOrRow(int colOrRow, bool setAsMin, wxGridDirection direction)
         }
 
         // get cell ( main cell if CellSpan_Inside ) renderer best size
-        wxGridCellAttrPtr attr = GetCellAttrPtr(row, col);
-        wxGridCellRendererPtr renderer = attr->GetRendererPtr(this, row, col);
+        if ( !canReuseAttr || !attr )
+        {
+            attr = GetCellAttrPtr(row, col);
+            renderer = attr->GetRendererPtr(this, row, col);
+        }
+
         if ( renderer )
         {
             extent = column