Lost Austrian masterpiece surfaces -- briefly

NEW YORK, June 22 (Reuters) A painting by Austrian expressionist Egon Schiele that was discovered after being missing for over 60 years has been snapped up by a private collector after making a brief public appearance.

New York art dealer and advisory firm Eykyn Maclean bought the painting, ''Herbstsonne'' or ''Wilted Sunflowers,'' at a Christie's auction in London on Tuesday for 21.7 million dollar.

This was almost double the estimated price for the painting, which was feared destroyed after being seized by the Nazis during World War Two.

Chris Eykyn, one of two former Christie's employees who set up Eykyn Maclean this year, said he acquired the painting on behalf of an anonymous European buyer who intended to keep the painting in his private collection.

''This painting is a true masterpiece, a really sophisticated and challenging picture, and this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The buyer now just wants to enjoy it,'' Eykyn told Reuters.

''It is one of the most important paintings by the artist in existence ... and its story is just extraordinary.'' The painting was among a collection of about 50 paintings owned by Austrian art collector Karl Gruenwald that was confiscated by the Nazis in France and sold at auction in 1942.

Gruenwald unsuccessfully tried to find his collection after the war. He died in 1964 and attempts by one his sons to locate the paintings were also unsuccessful.

But in late 2005, Christie's was contacted by a person who had acquired a painting along with an apartment he had bought in France a few years earlier. He had no particular arts knowledge and wanted a routine valuation of the painting.

Christie's specialists were amazed to discover the painting was the lost masterpiece that was painted in 1914.

When the owner -- who remains anonymous -- realised the importance of the painting, he gave it back to Gruenwald's heirs.

They put it up for auction.

The price tag makes it the second most expensive Schiele painting after the landscape ''Krumauer Landschaft'' which sold for 23.2 million dollars in 2003.

Another painting seized by the Nazis -- a 1907 portrait by Gustav Klimt -- was bought by cosmetics magnate Ronald Lauder for 135 million dollars, the highest amount ever paid for a painting, The New York Times said on Monday.

REUTERS SI BD0850