The Financial Times tells the story behind Christie’s lost Tiepolo that was thought to be commissioned by a Russian Empress but spent several generations in a French attic:

“The painting has lain untouched in the same private collection for over 200 years and, as a result, it remains breathtakingly similar to the way it would have been immediately after it left the artist’s easel.”

The picture is estimated at £700-900,000.