An amateur art buff has discovered the missing part of a famous 19th century painting and purchased it for a fraction of its value.
The lucky buyer was browsing through a Paris junk shop in 2010 when he discovered the head of Gustave Courbet's 'The Origin of the World', thought to be worth around $55 million.
Haggling with the store's owner, the anonymous collector knocked the price down by a sixth and paid just $1,900 for the missing masterpiece.
The rest of the 1866 painting, which depicts a naked woman, hangs in the prestigious Musee d'Orsay in Paris.
This week, French magazine Paris Match confirmed that scientific tests have proven the authenticity of the artwork.
Jean Jacque Fernier, author of a catalogue of Courbet's work, told Paris Match: 'The Origin Of The World finally has a face'.
He added the work is one of the 'most daring in the history of painting'.
Although 'The Origin Of The World' is regarded as a masterpiece by some, many view it as vulgar or even pornographic because of its graphic depiction of female genitalia.
The painting was considered so scandalous that it was not publicly displayed until 1988.
Gustave Courbet, who was born into a wealthy French farming family, is heralded as pioneering the 19th century Realist movement and influencing other great artists, including Claude Monet.
His works are displayed in some of the world's most prestigious art museums, including the Musee d'Orsay and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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