Painting bought on eBay revealed as a masterpiece worth £250,000

The search is on for an online art lover who paid £3,000 for a painting on eBay eight years ago that has since been revealed as an impressionist masterpiece worth around £250,000.

Experts on the BBC antiques show Fake Or Fortune made the discovery when they valued a painting owned by writer Keith Tutt.

He had bought the canvas, now established as the work of French painter Edouard Vuillard, for a knock-down price at an auction.

It had previously been owned by art dealer Robert Warren who revealed it was one of a pair and said he had sold the other, depicting a couple eating oysters and drinking champagne, on eBay but could not remember who bought it.

Fiona Bruce, who co-hosts the show, said: “We’ve done all the forensic and investigative work to prove it’s genuine, now we just need to find the owner and tell them the good news.

“Someone, somewhere in the world is sitting on a fortune.”