Rare Brueghel the Younger painting found behind door in French home

The painting was discovered hanging behind a door at a home in the north of France. It had been in the same family since 1900 but its provenance before then remains a mystery.

Malo de Lussac of the auctioneers Daguerre Val de Loire, who found the painting during an estimation visit requested by the family, who wish to remain anonymous, said he could hardly believe what he had stumbled across.

Pieter Brueghel the Younger, born in Brussels, was the oldest son of the 16th-century Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder. His younger brother Jan Brueghel the Elder was also a painter.

As well as signed and dated versions of this painting, there are also dozens of similar works that are not verified as having been produced by Brueghel or his workshop. An authentic version of the painting dating from around 1617 hangs in the Louvre.

The recently discovered Brueghel will be sold at the Drouot auction house in Paris accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.