Forgotten art in attic makes $1m

A painting by 19th Century US artist Martin Johnson Heade, which was stashed in an attic for 60 years, has fetched more than $1m (£602,000) at auction.

The painting, a river landscape previously unknown to art historians, had been kept in storage at a house in Boston, Massachusetts.

It was rediscovered by two US antiques experts as they filmed a TV show called Find! for the PBS network.

Heade, who died in 1904, is regarded as one of the US' best romantic painters.

The picture, located by brothers Leigh and Leslie Keno, had been estimated to be worth at least $500,000 (£300,000).

It was sold to a New York-based art dealer who attended the auction in Amesbury, Massachusetts, in person and paid $1,006,250 (£606,000).

Heade was not considered a major artist during his lifetime and some of his works served more practical than decorative purposes.

One piece, bought by the Museum of Fine Art in Houston for $1.25m (£753,000) in 1999, had been used to cover a hole in the wall of a house in Indiana.