The attic of their toulouse home had yielded a surprising discovery.
French attic painting.
The painting which had been estimated at up to 150 million euros 170 million dates from 1607 a mystery foreign buyer has snapped up a painting by italian master caravaggio that was discovered.
The owners of the house near the southwestern city of toulouse discovered the dramatic 400 year old painting when they went to fix a leak in the ceiling.
A painting described as a lost caravaggio masterpiece has been bought two days before it was due to go under the hammer in france.
It took five years of verification and restoration to prepare the 1607 caravaggio for auction.
The painting which was found under an old mattress in the attic.
In 2014 french auctioneer marc labarbe received a phone call from a friend.
A painting stumbled upon in the attic of a house in france is an authentic work by italian renaissance master caravaggio and could be worth up to 120 million euros a178m experts said.
Priceless 17th century caravaggio painting discovered behind mattresses in old french attic.