Face of a monster: Self-portrait of Hitler painted when he was just 21 revealed at auction

A solitary figure sits on a bridge, dreaming no doubt of one day invading Poland.

This watercolour is thought to be the earliest self-portrait by Adolf Hitler, painted in 1910 when the future Fuhrer was 21 and a struggling artist.

Kept in storage since it was discovered during the Second World War, it has been placed on public view before it is auctioned next month.

Monster: The unmistakable hair parting shows this is Hitler sitting on the old stone bridge

Wider view: The full painting from Hitler showing his signature in the bottom right corner of the painting



The painting, along with 12 others by the Nazi monster, was found by Company Sergeant Major Willie J McKenna when he was stationed in Essen, Germany in 1945.

They were sold direct to the present unidentified vendor and kept out of sight for decades.

The small portrait has no nose or mouth, let alone a postage-stamp moustache. But it appears Hitler was keen to identify himself by daubing a cross and the initials AH above the figure.

Amateurish: Hitler was rejected twice by the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in 1907 and 1908

Landscape: This is one of 13 paintings by the dictator to go on sale at auction



The 13 paintings will be auctioned at Ludlow racecourse in Shropshire on April 23 and are expected to fetch tens of thousands of pounds. The others are of flowers and landscapes.

Richard Westwood- Brookes, Mullocks auctioneers' historical documents expert, said: 'It's curious to say the least how an artist, whose interests at this stage of his life should be in such peaceful and bucolic subjects, could turn into the monster he became in later life.

'There's absolutely nothing here to suggest how his mind could have turned in such a way.'

For sale: A 1926 pencil sketch by Hitler was bought by a British buyer for £1,050 in 1999



He added: 'One can see why Hitler didn't exactly make a success of his career as an artist.

'These are at best the standard of a reasonably competent amateur and some might consider them downright crude in execution.

Saying that, there is a tremendous fascination in Hitler these days and this sale will provide bidders with a rare opportunity of obtaining a work by Hitler at a time long before he started his campaigns of mass murder and world domination.'

Hitler was rejected twice by Vienna's Academy of Fine Arts in 1907 and 1908 after being told he was not a talented enough artist.

He resorted to copying scenes from postcards and selling them to tourists.

The two sides of Hitler: The Fuhrer greeting the masses - and his painting of a bunch of flowers

