‘Extraordinary’ long-lost Da Vinci drawing, dreamy and sensual, is discovered in France

A lost drawing by the Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci has been discovered in the papers of a French provincial doctor, a Paris auction house said Tuesday.

The dreamily sensual sketch of Saint Sebastian is thought to be worth around 15 million euros (US$15.8 million) and is an “extraordinary discovery”, the Tajan auction house said.

It has been authenticated by the French specialist Patrick de Bayser and Carmen C. Bambach, curator of Renaissance drawings at New York’s Metropolitan Museum and a Da Vinci expert, it added.

The dramatic study, which it is thought Leonardo did in his late twenties or early thirties after he was acquitted of sodomy, is one of eight he is known to have drawn.

The find is extremely rare, with the last Da Vinci drawing that came to market - a sketch of a horse and rider - equalling the world record for an Old Master drawing when it sold for US$10 million in 2001.

It was then said to be the most significant drawing by the artist and polymath to be sold at auction since the 1930s.

De Bayser said he came across the new sketch, done with a quill pen, during a routine trawl through material sent to the auction house for valuation.