A rare painting by Flemish artist Pieter Brueghel the Younger will be sold by auction in Paris tomorrow.

L’Avocat du village is one of the painter’s largest known works, measuring 112cm high and a 184cm wide – but until recently it was unknown in the art world.

Dusty and uncared for, it was discovered hanging behind a door at a home in the north of France.

The owners of the 17th century artwork, expected to sell for more than £700,000, did not think it was a real Brueghel.

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For decades, it had lived in the house, and was passed down from one generation to the next.

The secret was only uncovered when the family, who wishes to remain unknown, had asked Malo de Lussac of auctioneers Daguerre Val de Loire to estimate the value of their house but instead discovered a masterpiece.

‘I found this painting, behind a door in the television room,’ de Lussac said calling it one of the biggest surprises in his career.

‘And that’s what’s incredible. We are giving them back this authenticity by saying “in fact your artwork is real”.’

Brueghel the Younger, whose father Brueghel the Elder died when he was aged just five, did not use one of his father’s compositions for this painting as he usually did.

Art experts estimated that the artwork was painted between 1615 and 1617.

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