TWO Renaissance paintings set to be auctioned in Dorchester next month are likely to be lost overseas.

The rare masterpieces by Fra Angelico could fetch more than £1 million when they are sold at HY Duke's auction house on April 19.

But as they are not deemed part of the national heritage, they will be available to some of the world's wealthiest museums and collectors.

The renaissance panels stunned the art world when they were found in the spare room of elderly spinster Jean Preston's Oxford home last year.

Both long-lost artworks, which measure just 15 inches by five inches, depict a Dominican saint and are part of a set of eight by Fra Angelico.

They were commissioned by Cosimo de Medici and his brother Lorenzo, art patrons of the Italian Renaissance for the High Altar at the Church and Convent of San Marco, Florence.

The other six panels have been held in collections across the globe since the Napoleonic wars - but it was unclear where the remaining two had gone.

Mrs Preston bought the paintings in the United States for £200 in the 1960s, and brought them back to the United Kingdom in the 1990s.

Export licences are never refused for works that have been in the country for less than 50 years, because they are not considered part of the national heritage.

It now seems likely the paintings will be sold overseas, because the licence will almost certainly be granted.

Fra Angelico artworks rarely appear on the open market, but in 1972 a pair of panels by the Renaissance master scooped £230,000 at a sale in London.

The art sale in Dorchester next month will be one of the biggest this country has seen outside of the capital.

Town auctioneer Guy Schwinge has said art experts from around the world were left stunned at the discovery.

"To put it in a nutshell, we're dealing with two works of art painted by one of the greats," he said at the time. "It simply does not get much better than that."

Mr Schwinge said it was highly likely' they would sell for more than £1 million.

"It's thought no item at a provincial sale has been estimated to sell for more than these Fra Angelico pieces," he said.