THE ancestral owners of a stately home are set to raise more than £10 million towards work to maintain the property by selling treasures ranging from Roman antiquities to Old Master paintings.

Nine antiques and artworks from Castle Howard, in North Yorkshire, will go under the hammer at Sotheby's in London today (Wednesday, July 8).

They are part of a collection which experts rate as among the finest in the world and have been assembled over 300 years.

The collection from the baroque pile, featured in Brideshead Revisited, includes a glowering portrait of Henry VIII, by the studio of Hans Holbein, with an estimate of £1.2 million.

It was painted in 1542, the year the king's fifth wife, Catherine Howard – a distant relative of the Howard family who live at the 145-room residence – was beheaded for alleged adultery.

Other highlights of the auction include a 17th Century painting by one of Rembrandt’s favourite pupils, Ferdinand Bol, which experts believe will sell for up to £3 million, and an 18th Century painting by Bernardo Bellotto titled Venice, A View of The Grand Canal, valued at up to £3.5 million.

A 1st Century monumental quartz vase from the Baths of Augustus in Rome, an early 16th Century Florentine relief of the Virgin and Child and a pair of early 17th Century Italian ebony cabinets, with an estimate of £1.2 million, will also feature.

The auction has been sanction by Eton-educated brothers Simon and Nicholas Howard, who live with their families in apartments in separate wings of the house.

A Castle Howard spokeswoman said the sale would serve to finance general repairs at the attraction, in addition to the revenue it receives from 235,000 visitors annually.

Nicholas Howard, who took over the running of the 10,000-acre estate from his brother this year, said a small number of works had been carefully chosen for the sale, so as not to detract from the overall integrity of the collection.

He said: “I am privileged to be able to say that Castle Howard is my family’s heritage and has been since it was built more than 300 years ago.

"With that privilege comes the responsibility of ownership, and the trustees’ unanimous decision to hold this sale is the exercise of that responsibility.

"If the sale helps to secure that heritage as the house moves into its fourth century then it will have achieved its goal."