Two small paintings in the spare room of an Oxford pensioner turned out to be missing medieval masterpieces worth over £1 million.
They are thought to be long-lost pieces from the altarpiece of the church and convent of St Marco in Florence, painted in 1439 by Fra Angelico.
It was one of the glories of the Italian Renaissance but was broken up during the Napoleonic wars, reports The Times.
Six of the eight small paintings that surrounded the main panel had been found but the location of the last two was one of art's greatest mysteries.
The mystery has been solved at the home of Jean Preston, 77, a retired academic who died this year.
Miss Preston lived modestly, bought her clothes from a catalogue, ate frozen meals and travelled by bus, but she always rather liked the small paintings hanging in her spare room.
She originally bought them as a present for her father in the early 1960s while she was working in America. She is believed to have paid no more than £200 for the pair.
She inherited them after his death in 1974 but it was not until shortly before her own death that she discovered the secret of the modest portraits of two saints in medieval clothing.
