Missing drawing rediscovered

The drawing was discovered hidden behind a door in a Surrey mansion Credit: PA/Southerby's

A missing drawing made as a study for one of the most famous paintings of the Victorian era has been discovered in a Surrey mansion inherited by broadcaster Bamber Gasgcoigne.

The drawing, made by London artist Lord Leighton 130 years ago and worth more than £60 000, was discovered tucked away in a rarely used upstairs room of West Hornsey Place near Guilford.

It is a study for Flaming June, a Pre-Raphaelite painting of a resting woman in an orange dress.

Former University Challenge host Bamber Gasgoigne says he intends to sell the drawing via Southerby's in London to raise funds for restoration work at West Horsley Place. He inherited the house last year from his aunt Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe, who died aged 99.

Simon Toll, Southeby’s Victorian art specialist, said finding the drawing behind the door of a small, dark anteroom off the duchess’s bedroom was “thrilling ... one of the most heart-stopping moments in my career”.