A 400-year-old picture that might have been painted by Italian master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio has been found in an attic in southern France, Gazeta reported quoting Associated Press.

The picture spent more than 150 years in an attic in the outskirts of Toulouse.

The owners discovered the painting, which had been partially damaged by water, when they went to the attic to fix a leak.

The picture “Judith Beheading Holofernes” is estimated at $135 million if its authenticity can be proed.

"I don’t need further expertise, everybody agrees on the fact that it’s one of the most important masterpieces from the 17th century to have emerged over the past 30 years,” the French expert Eric Turquin specializing in pictures of old masters said.