The 19th century belief that the sculptures were by Michelangelo had been dismissed by experts for over a century as they were neither documented nor signed. Instead, they had been attributed to the Dutch sculptor Willem Danielsz Van Tetrode.

Fitzwilliam Museum, which belongs to Cambridge University, said on Monday, however, that the meter-high (three-feet) bronzes are now thought to be early works by Michelangelo, made just after he completed his marble David and shortly before he embarked on painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

The museum said that the figures had been attributed to 16th century Italian artist based in part on a tiny detail from one of his apprentice's drawings, which is now in the Musée Fabre in Montpellier, France.

The apprentice's copy of some of Michelangelo's lost sketches includes a design of a muscular youth riding a panther, which the Fitzwilliam Museum said was very similar in pose to the bronze sculptures.

It was also "drawn in the abrupt, forceful manner that Michelangelo employed in designs for sculpture. This suggests that Michelangelo was working up this very unusual theme for a work in three dimensions," the museum added.

"The bronzes are exceptionally powerful and compelling works of art that deserve close-up study - we hope the public will come and examine them for themselves, and engage with this ongoing debate," Dr Victoria Avery, Keeper of the Applied Arts Department of the Fitzwilliam Museum, said in a statement.

The evidence linking the bronzes to Michelangelo will be presented to a conference in July. In the meantime, the works will be on display at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England.

ksb/rg (Reuters, AFP)