New Picasso portrait unveiled at Paris auction house

A previously unknown portrait by Pablo Picasso of one his lovers was unveiled at a Paris auction house on Thursday after being put up for sale by its owners.

Entitled "Bust of a woman with a flowery hat", it depicts Dora Maar, a French photographer, painter and poet who was Picasso's best-known muse.

Painted with oil, the colourful work measuring 80 x 60 centimetres (31 x 24 inches) "is valued at around eight million euros, a reserve price that could soar," according to auctioneer Christophe Lucien at Parisian auction house Drouot.

It was painted by Picasso on July 11, 1943, and acquired in August 1944 by a French collector who is the grandfather of the current owners.

Agnes Sevestre-Barbe, a Picasso specialist present during the unveiling of the work, said it was "unknown to the public and never exhibited, except in the Spanish master's studio in Paris" during the World War II.

The sellers are divesting the painting as part of an inheritance settlement, Lucien said.