Last chance to see long-lost Rembrandt

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Art lovers have a last chance to see a long-lost self-portrait of the Dutch painter Rembrandt -- thought to be a copy but later discovered to be authentic -- before it disappears from public view.

The painting, a portrait of a smiling young man, is on display in Rembrandt's former house and studio in Amsterdam until July 20.

"It is an unique opportunity to see this work, because it has not been seen by the public before," a spokeswoman for the Rembrandthuis museum said. "And it will disappear again. Maybe it will not be seen for decades after the showing."

The painting hung for decades in a private house in Gloucestershire in western England.

In October it was sold after frantic bidding for 2.5 million pounds to a private buyer, despite being assessed as a copy and valued before the sale at just 1,000 to 1,500 pounds.

"Rembrandt Laughing" was probably painted in the artist's early years at around 1628, when he studied human emotions in facial expressions," Dutch Rembrandt expert Ernst van de Wetering said in research paper.

The portrait was painted on a copper plate, almost the same size as the plate Rembrandt used in 1628 for the "St Peter and St John at the Temple Gate" etching, Van de Wetering said.

(Reporting by Tineke van der Struik; Editing by Matthew Jones)