London ( CNN ) -- A study for Paul Cezanne 's master work `` The Card Players , '' missing for decades , has been rediscovered among the paintings of a Texas art collector , and looks set to sell for more than $ 15 million when it goes under the hammer later this year . The watercolor , one of the preparatory sketches for Cezanne 's five painting series , was only known from a black and white photograph , having last been seen in public in 1953 , and was presumed lost . But the immaculately preserved work was found earlier this year in the collection of Texas medical expert and art collector Dr. Heinz F. Eichenwald , and will be sold at Christie 's in New York on May 1 . The auction house predicts a great deal of interest from collectors in the piece , which is expected to fetch between $ 15 and $ 20 million . `` For a full-size study from this series to come to light now , when it was feared to have been lost to history by scholars and collectors alike , marks a pivotal moment in the art market , '' said Sharon Kim , international director of Impressionist and Modern Art at Christie 's . The figure in the image has been identified by Cezanne scholars as Paulin Paulet , a gardener on the painter 's family estate , the Jas de Bouffan , near Aix en Provence in the south of France . Paulet is the only person to appear in all five of the finished `` Card Players '' works , which were the subject of a major exhibition at London 's Courtauld Institute and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York last year . The watercolor study was originally bought by Eichenwald 's parents , who brought it with them to the United States when the family fled the Nazi occupation of Europe in the 1930s and settled in New York . Eichenwald , who trained as a pediatrician in the U.S. and went on to become a renowned specialist , died last September at the age of 85 . He was a keen art collector , and several of his other paintings and sculptures will feature in Christie 's New York sales on May 1 and 2 . `` The 'Card Player ' series is one of the most important of the modern era , influencing so many of the painters who sought to follow in Cezanne 's footsteps , '' said Kim . `` [ It ] offers us a rare glimpse into [ his ] artistic process , showing us how he worked through the pose and positioning of the characters that would come to populate his greatest masterpieces . '' Paul Cezanne ( 1839-1906 ) was one of the most influential Post-Impressionist painters ; a childhood friend of the novelist Emile Zola and a contemporary of Manet , Monet , Renoir and Degas . His works were a major influence on the development of Cubism : Picasso referred to him as `` the father of us all . '' `` A Card Player '' by Paul Cezanne , will be the star lot of a sale of Impressionist and Modern Art at Christie 's in New York on May 1 , 2012 .
Study for Paul Cezanne 's `` The Card Players '' found among Texas art collector 's paintings . Sketch was only known through an old photograph ; not seen since 1953 , feared lost . Finished paintings in the series now hang in some of the world 's best-known galleries . Comment: