Long-lost Emily Brontë portrait valued up to £40,000 under the hammer with Northamptonshire auctioneer
The painting was deemed 'irrevocably lost' in the late 19th-century but has since been found
A long-lost painting of author Emily Brontë is being sold online by a Northamptonshire auctioneer with a estimated value of between £25,000 and £40,000.
The 'Bonnet Portrait' was deemed 'irrevocably lost' by 19th-century author William Robertson Nicholl.
He wrote an article in The Woman at Home magazine in 1894, which included an illustration of the Wuthering Heights writer by her sister, Charlotte.
The painting, which bears a striking resemblance to the illustration, was purchased by Professor Christopher Heywood for £20,200 in 2011.
After extensive research, the senior English lecturer at the University of Sheffield deemed it to be the lost portrait, setting out his factual and evidence-based reasoning in the Brontë Society Journal in 2015.
Humbert & Ellis Auctioneers, based in Towcester, is offering the painting 'without reserve' on behalf of the executors of the late Professor Heywood in a timed online auction, ending on Sunday, May 23.