An "extraordinary" drawing by Leonardo da Vinci valued at €15 million (£12.5 million ) was unveiled on Monday in Paris after a retired French doctor brought the lost work to an auction house amongst a jumble of unknown sketches, reports The Telegraph.
Paris auctioneer Tajan said there was no doubt the "extraordinary discovery" was one of eight drawings of The Martyred Saint Sebastian mentioned in the Codex Atlanticus, a list compiled by the Italian Renaissance genius and master draftsman.
It is the first Leonardo work to resurface in more than 15 years, it said.
Thaddée Prate, director of old master pictures at Tajan recalled being in a "bit of a rush" when the retired doctor knocked on the door of the auction house in March and pulled out the seven-and-a-half-by-five inch drawing from a portfolio of 15 unframed pictures.
They had belonged to the father of the owner from central France, who wishes to remain anonymous.
Mr Prate spotted a striking pen-and-ink study of St. Sebastian tied to a tree, inscribed on the mount “Michelange” (Michelangelo).