Leonardo da Vinci drawing discovered in France, valued at €15 million

A previously unknown drawing by Leonardo da Vinci has been discovered in France, the first attributed to the master in at least 15 years. The work, depicting the Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, was brought to the Tajan auction house in Paris by a retired doctor who inherited 14 drawings from his father, a bibliophile. Thaddée Prate, director of Tajan's Old Masters department, initially identified it as an interesting 16th-century study. Further research revealed it to be by Leonardo, part of a group of eight works on this subject mentioned by the artist in the Codex Atlanticus. The attribution was authenticated by Carmen C. Bambach, a world-renowned Leonardo drawings expert and curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Department of Drawings and Prints. The small drawing (approximately 19 x 13 cm) also features notes and diagrams on light and shadow on its verso, related to Leonardo's studies on optics. Tajan has valued the piece at around €15 million.