Portrait of Gustav Klimt found after almost 100 years

A painting by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt that was thought lost for 100 years has been found in Vienna.

The portrait of Fraulein Lieser belonged to a Jewish family in Austria and was last seen in public in 1925.

Its subsequent fate is unclear, but the family of the current owners has owned the painting since the 1960s.

The im Kinsky auction house estimates the value of the painting at more than $54 million (£42 million).

He called the rediscovery “a sensation.”

“A painting of such rarity, artistic significance and value has not been available on the art market in Central Europe for decades,” im Kinsky said in a statement.

The portrait will be auctioned on April 24 on behalf of the owners and legal successors of the Lieser family.

This is based on the Washington Principles, an international agreement return art looted by the Nazis to the descendants of the people from whom it was taken.

Before the auction, the painting will be presented in several international locations, including the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany and Hong Kong, the auction house said.

The portrait belonged to the Lieser family, wealthy Jewish industrialists from Vienna.

Ernst Ploil, co-director general of the Kinsky Auction House, said they had so far found no evidence that the work had been looted or stolen before or during World War II.

“The painting is described as lost in all catalog raisonnés (complete lists of Klimt’s work). In our circles, “lost” means probably destroyed, probably burned during the war, but in any case it no longer exists; it was not to be expected that it would ever reappear.

“We took an active approach and not only investigated the Lieser family as potential restitution claimants, but also approached potential representatives based on our experience in previous restitution proceedings.”

Klimt’s art has fetched huge sums of money at auction in the past.