PREVIOUSLY "lost" works of art by one of the region's most celebrated and respected 19th Century portrait painters have been uncovered more than a century after his death.

Three paintings by Clement Burlison, who was born in Middleton-in-Teesdale, County Durham, in 1815, will go under the hammer in Newcastle next month.

The pieces were virtually unknown until their owners took them in for experts at auctioneers Anderson and Garland to examine.

The paintings, which are all of Continental women, have been described as some of Burlison's finest works.

Anderson and Garland's picture specialist, John Anderson, said: "One of the paintings is of an Italian girl - the same subject as another of Clement's paintings in the Burlison Gallery, which forms part of the Old Town Hall, in Durham.

"Interestingly, this virtually unknown gallery was opened exactly a century ago this year, and it's a happy coincidence that these three paintings should have been brought in for sale, and from two totally unrelated sources, at this time."

Burlison often visited the Continent to study works by the Old Masters, and experts believe it was during one of his trips abroad that he painted the three portraits.

One of the paintings is thought to be the original sketch he made of his celebrated painting Portrait of an Italian Girl, which he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1846.

When Burlison died in 1899 he bequeathed his entire collection of paintings to the City of Durham, on the condition that the local authority provided a public gallery for people to view his works.

The gallery's first home was in Saddler Street, and was officially opened on June 1, 1902, by the Earl of Durham.

The local council leased the premises until the 1920s, but the collection was then transferred to the town hall when the lease expired.

Experts are predicting the paintings could sell for thousands of pounds when they are auctioned on September 24.

In 1995, Burlison's painting entitled the 12th of August on Wellhope Moors, Durham, picturing a family relaxing during a break in their shoot, sold for £30,000 at auction.