A tiny oil painting that was kept in an attic for years and thought to be worth just £300 has now sold for more than £120,000 at auction . The oil painting - which measures nine inches by seven - of a Catholic saint was believed to be the work of a 'follower ' of 16th century renaissance master El Greco . But the selling price suggests the untitled , undated and unsigned painting may actually have been done by the artist himself . Auctioneer Richard Bromell ( pictured ) gave the tiny painting an estimated value of about £300 to £400 but it ended up selling for more than £120,000 . It was acquired by the owner 's late father in the 1970s for very little . He bought it because he believed it was a depiction of Saint Peter , who shares his name . And it was inherited by his son , who has not been named , who kept it in his loft for the past eight years before deciding to sell it following a clear-out . Auctioneer Richard Bromell , of Charterhouse Auctioneers of Sherborne , Dorset , gave the work an estimated value of between £300 and £400 . But after advertising the sale , interest in the work took off . And feverish bidding , final hammer price was £98,000 and came to £120,932 with all the fees added on . Mr Bromell said : ' I rung the client after the sale and just told him it sold for ninety-eight . He asked 'what pounds ? ' And I told him it was £98,000 . 'He said he needed to sit down . When he came down off the ceiling he was very , very pleased . I think if he had been offered £500 for it before the auction he would have snapped your hand off . ' The oil painting ( right ) was believed to have been the work of a follower of 16th century renaissance master El Greco ( left ) but the selling price suggests it may have been done by the artist himself . Mr Bromell explained it was very difficult to judge the painting . He said : 'We described it as by a follower of El Greco because that is what it looked like and I still think that to be the case . 'It was a very interesting picture and very hard to value . 'If you asked three people the question 'how much is it worth ? ' you would get three different answers . One reputable gallery stopped bidding at £10,000 because that was how much they were prepared to pay for it . 'Obviously as least two people thought it was worth the money because the bidding just went up and up . 'We must have advertised it well because all the right people attended the sale . On the day of the sale I thought it might go for a few thousand pounds so we were obviously delighted with the outcome . 'People play their cards very close to their chest at these things and the person who bought it came in and was only interested in this item and nothing else . '
Auctioneer gave painting an estimated value of between £300 and £400 . It was thought to be the work of a follower of renaissance master El Greco . But final price suggests unsigned work may have been done by the artist . Painting of saint was acquired by owner 's father in 16th century for very little .