Painting is a £540k gem

AN unloved painting a couple hid away in a spare room has sold for £540,000.

The oil of St John the Evangelist, sold to pay for house repairs, was thought to be 19th century and had been valued at £600.

But after it soared at auction it was found to be a 17th century Old Master, said to be by a student of Anthony van Dyck, famed for his portrait of Charles I.

Jasper Marsh of Holloways auctions in Banbury, Oxon, said: “It was a nice surprise for everyone.”