A cast-aside painting in the style of famed 17th century Dutch master Pieter Brueghel the Younger — which long hung hidden behind the door of a home in northern France — is the real deal.
And now the masterpiece,L’Avocat du village(orThe Village Lawyer), is set to hit the auction block on Tuesday where it could be sold for close to $1 million.
“I found this painting [in the house], behind a door in the television room,” de Lussac told the news service, adding that it was one of the biggest finds of his career.
He added, “I started estimating this room and when I turned back, I saw this painting. It was a very good surprise for me.”
AP Photo/Michel Euler
Just around the corner in Paris on Tuesday, the French family’s painting will be sold at the Hôtel Drouot, where it currentlyhas a presale estimate of €600,000 to €800,000($635,000–$846,000).
For the family, who long thought their possession was a fake, the day is a happy occasion — marking the moment they found out the truth about their possession.
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
De Lussac told Reuters that once the family was told that theirs was an original work of art, they asked him to take a picture of them in front of the painting “that they had lived with for all those years” since the early 1900s.
“It was both funny and touching,” he said.
source: people.com
