An early religious painting by Goya, which hung for more than 80 years unrecognised in a private collection, has been discovered and will be sold by Koller Auctions in Zurich in September. Paintings by Goya are rare, with fewer than 10 on the auction market in the past 20 years, but early works such as this, which is dated in the late 1770s when the artist was in his thirties, are virtually unheard of. The painting depicts the biblical scene of Lot and his daughters, and was made at about the time Goya was designing wall hangings for the royal palaces of El Pardo and El Escorial. It was in a private collection in Bilbao until the Twenties, when it left Spain to go to the current owner’s family.

The painting is of such national significance that, were it still in Spain, it would be unlikely to be granted an export licence. Goya’s religious paintings have not been as sought-after as his portraits or bull-fighting scenes, which have sold in the millions, and this has been estimated to fetch SwFr600,000 to SwFr800,000 (£390,000 to £520,000).

Market News: New Goya Discovered (Telegraph)