"Etreinte" (Embrace), a watercolour, shows a nude Picasso entwined in an intimate embrace with his girlfriend Louise Lenoir, known as Odette.
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    BEIJING, April 1 (Xinhuanet) -- An early nude painting by Pablo Picasso showing the artist in a lover's clinch will go up for auction after being discovered in the bedroom of a house in south-west England, media reports said Tuesday.

    "Etreinte" (Embrace), a watercolour, shows a nude Picasso entwined in an intimate embrace with his girlfriend Louise Lenoir, known as Odette.

    It was found propped up against a wall with two equine paintings by British artists George Stubbs and Alfred Munnings, Duke's auction house said Monday.

    "It was a breathtaking find to discover these paintings that were stacked against the wall of a house," Guy Schwinge of auctioneers Duke's said in comments quoted by the British media.

    "To find just one of these works would have been incredible -- but to find three was quite exceptional."

    It was thought to have been painted in 1901 or 1902 when the Spanish master was a struggling artist in his early 20s. It was authenticated by Picasso in 1969.

    Each work is expected to sell for up to 100,000 pounds (126,000 euros, 199,000 dollars) when they go on sale on April 10.

    (Agencies)