A self-portrait of Adolf Hitler, when he was a struggling artist, will go under the hammer for the first time after they were found, forgotten in a collector's garage.

The watercolour small portrait, the earliest example of the dictator painting a picture of himself, is among 13 works by the Fuhrer when he was just 21.

The paintings, which were dated between 1908 and 1912, have now been brought out for the public to see before they go under the hammer on April 23 at Ludlow racecourse in Shropshire, UK.

The small portrait of the dictator has no nose or mouth, but the side parting hairstyle is unmistakable. Hitler is shown sitting on an old stone bridge, with a cross and the initials AH painted above him, the Daily Telegraph newspaper said.

Each of the paintings have been authenticated by the late Peter Jahn, a renowned expert on the Austrian period of fuhrer's life. In Vienna, Hitler resorted to copying scenes from postcards and selling to merchants and tourists in an effort to raise funds for himself.

The pictures are mainly of flowers and picturesque landscapes. "There's absolutely nothing in them to suggest the monster he became," said Richard Westwood-Brookes of Mullock's auctioneers.

"But one can see why he didn't make it as an artist," he was quoted as saying by the British daily. The Nazi leader was rejected twice by the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in 1907 and 1908 after being told he was unfit for painting.