'Lost' Klimt to go under the hammer - 13/01/2010

A classic painting by Gustav Klimt – the whereabouts of which had been a mystery for decades – is to go on sale.

Klimt's Church in Cassone (Landscape with Cypresses) was crated up by its owners in 1938 during the Nazi assault on Austria. Since then the exact movements of the painting are not entirely known.

The piece is of particular delight among art lovers as a result of its luminosity and serene beauty, with its mysterious history only adding to the lure of the landscape.

Due to be auctioned at the Impressionist & Modern Art Department Worldwide event to be held at Sotheby's on February 3rd, the painting has been estimated at £15 to £18 million – figures many believe to be on the conservative side.

Sotheby's specialist Patrick Legant told the Guardian: "It is absolutely wonderful. It's a dream in a way to be so privileged to handle a painting like this. In one painting you get some of the history of the 20th century."

The owners who boxed the painting up to keep it from the Gestapo were captured by the Nazis and deported to Poland in 1941, after which they were never heard of again.