Portrait may be of Mozart

A British music scholar says he has identified a previously unknown portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart that could be worth millions.

The 19-by-14-inch oil painting shows the profile of a man in a bright red jacket. Cliff Eisen, who teaches music at King’s College London, said that it is only the fourth known authentic portrait of Mozart from his time, when the composer was at his professional height in Vienna.

King’s College said the portrait was probably painted by Joseph Hickel, who was a painter at Austria’s imperial court. Hickel gave the portrait to Mozart in return for the composition of a serenade for a member of Hickel’s family, the college said. It now belongs to an American collector who was not identified.