‘Lost’ painting tops $1 million

A landscape painting by 19th century American romantic painter Martin Johnson Heade was sold at auction for a little more than $1 million Sunday after being stashed away in an attic for more than 60 years.

The 12-by-26-inch river scene, which art historians did not know existed, was discovered in a home near Boston by antiques experts Leigh and Leslie Keno as they filmed an episode of the new PBS television series “Find!�

The painting had been estimated to be worth at least $500,000 and was sold to a New York-based art dealer who attended the auction in Amesbury, Mass., and paid $1,006,250.

Heade, who died in 1904, is now described by art experts as one of the best American romantic painters but was not considered a major artist during his lifetime, and some of his works served more utilitarian than decorative purposes.