Family unknowingly had rare, valuable painting for 150 years

(NEXSTAR) – A painting hanging in a French family’s living room turned out to be far more valuable than just another trinket or heirloom.

An auctioneer doing inventory on the family property in Touraine discovered it was an original artwork by Eugène Delacroix, a French Romantic painter who died in 1863.

The family obtained the oil-on-canvas artwork, titled “Études de lions couchés” (study of reclining lions), at a sale after Delacroix’s death. According to auctioneer who made the discovery, Malo de Lussac, the family wasn’t sure that it was a Delacroix.

The existence of the painting was “previously unknown,” auction house Hotel Drouot says.

“This previously unknown and unpublished artwork is all the more exceptional as Delacroix, who is usually renowned for his ink sketches and studies of lions, is rarely known for painted versions,” Hotel Drouot said in a press release.

One of the seven lions on the painting is less finished than the rest, appearing as a sketch on the left side. The backside of the painting has palette test marks on the canvas and stretcher.

The painting will be presented at auction on Friday. Its estimated value is between 200,000 and 300,000 euros.

Eugène Delacroix, born in 1798, is regarded as the leader of the Romantic movement in French painting. His works are far more likely to be found in the Louvre than basements or living rooms.