Masterpiece worth £250,000 found on wall of empty London bungalow

 It had hung inconspicuously on the wall of a house in Enfield for years, with its owner unaware it was worth a fortune. A 90-year-old woman with dementia, who has not been named, owns the painting after her father gave it to her more than 30 years ago.

She has been living in a care home since last year and her family recently put the bungalow up for sale to help pay the costs. It was only then that her family found out that the oil painting was worth a quarter of a million pounds. They had no idea about the painting, its history or its value.

It was discovered during a routine valuation of the contents of a house by Dawsons Auctioneers valuer Siobhan Tyrell, who has appeared on the Antiques Roadshow. The oil on canvas painting, which measures 50cm x 43.5cm, fetched £255,000 when it went under the hammer at auction.