This year, the Renaissance landscape rarity was identified, and it could fetch up to 5 million pounds.

Albrecht Altdorfer's 1520 oil painting will be auctioned at Sotheby’s in London on December 9. Titled "Dense Forest Landscape with Rainbow Behind Trees and Distant Rock Outcrop to the Right, Under Cloudy Sky," it is one of the earliest independent landscapes in Western art. Previously held in a Swiss private collection, its existence was only identified this year. The estimated value is between £3-5 million. This marks the first auction of a known Altdorfer painting since 1980. The painting was acquired by its current owners in 1957 from the Harrach family collection. Altdorfer, born in 1480 in Regensburg, is recognized for elevating landscape as a standalone subject in art, often seen as a precursor to Romantic landscape painting.