Charles Dickens’ youthful portrait recovered in South Africa 150 years later to go on display

A portrait of Charles Dickens, in which he looks young and handsome, has been discovered in a tray next to a metal lobster at an auction in South Africa. The photograph that went missing for over 150 years will go on display in London this week.

The newly found portrait of the famous English writer, Charles Dickens is expected to become a part of the permanent collections of the Charles Dickens Museum in London. The overall value of the portrait is still not revealed apart from the information that it is a six-figure sum. Initially, the museum is planning to display the portrait on Pall Mall.

"The miniature watercolor and gouache portrait by Margaret Gillies, valued at 220,000 pounds ($280,000), was painted in 1843 as the young Charles Dickens, in his early 30s, was writing 'A Christmas Carol,' as reported by Reuters'

This portrait was last displayed in front of the public in 1844 at the Royal Academy of Arts in London when 'A Tale of Two Cities' novel-writer was alive. Thereafter the portrait disappeared, the information was revealed by Margaret Gillies in a letter that she was not sure of its whereabouts. After several attempts, she finally reported it untraced in 1886. Later it has been discovered in a general sale in Pietermaritzburg, the capital province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

"He is really dashing in the portrait, with brown eyes that fix you -- which the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning described as eagle eyes," art dealer Philip Mould said to the reporters.