Hitler painting to go to auction - 15/02/2010

A painting by Adolf Hitler is set to go under the hammer next month, it has been revealed.

However, the artist himself is not the only intriguing factor concerning the work, for it is believed the piece hung in the office of Sigmund Freud.

The 1910 watercolour, which is clearly labelled A Hitler, also has inscribed on the back "Sigmund Freud, Vienna".

Some suggest that the painting could indicate that the two men actually met in person about 100 years ago.

Richard Westwood-Brookes, from Mullock's Specialist Auctioneers, told the Daily Telegraph: "The possibility that this watercolor once hung on the walls of Freud's consulting rooms in Vienna may seem on the face of it completely bizarre.

"But both men were in Vienna at the same time and we know Hitler was selling his paintings, so it is quite possible that Freud had one on the wall."

He went on to say that the prospect that the two men met was "tantalising".

Sigmund Freud fled Vienna for London in 1938 as a result of the rise of the Third Reich.