Spinster left artworks worth millions in her humble terrace house

Inside the frugal spinster's neat red brick property, however, lay a series of rare artworks which would rival those held by many of the greatest galleries.

Valuers called in after 77-year-old Miss Preston's death stumbled across a treasure trove in the kitchen, living room and spare bedroom.

Now, a year after two lost masterpieces were found, another two works have come to light, worth £1million between them.

They are a 19th century watercolour by the English painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, which was found hanging in the kitchen, and an oil painting by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, kept above the electric fire in the living room.

Treasures already taken from the house in Oxford include a rare edition of the works of Geoffrey Chaucer found under a cardigan in a wardrobe. It was later sold for £74,000.

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Living room: Oil painting by Sir Edward Burne-Jones entitled Music (left) while (right) discovered in the kitchen, a watercolour by English painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti

And hanging behind the door in the spare bedroom were two lost 15th century Fra Angelico paintings worth an astonishing £1.7million.

Yesterday it emerged that the Pre-Raphaelite paintings by Rossetti and Burne-Jones are of such importance that they have been saved for the nation and will be displayed at a museum.

Guy Schwinge, of auctioneers Dukes of Dorchester, said: "When we were asked to visit Miss Preston's home we had been told by her family there may be some interesting works of art inside. It turns out that was something of an understatement.

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Spare bedroom: Two Fra Angelico paintings, missing pieces of an eight-work altar decoration

"In almost every room there were works of art that were quite staggering in their sheer quality and importance."

Miss Preston, who died in 2006, had been a curator of manuscripts at the Huntington Library in California and at Princeton University Library, and her father was a keen collector.

He acquired the oil painting by Burne-Jones (1833-1898) after it sold at Christie's on April 13, 1934, for £147. Entitled Music, it was monogrammed "EBJ".

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The watercolour by Rossetti (1828-1882) depicts Shakespeare's Hamlet and Ophelia and is monogrammed and dated 1866. It was commissioned by Merseyside lawyer and art collector AT Squarey.

Both paintings have been saved for the nation under a government scheme which encourages estates to offer prized work in settlement of inheritance tax.

It is hoped they will go on display at Oxford's Ashmolean Museum.

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Jean Preston's £200,000 terrace house in Oxford

After the discovery of the Fra Angelico paintings, Miss Preston's nephew, who did not want to be named, said: 'My aunt bought her clothes from a catalogue, ate frozen meals and went everywhere on the bus.

"Who would have thought she had the equivalent of a winning lottery ticket in her spare room all these years?"