A painting of the Risen Christ which was once owned by a German chancellor has been identified as a previously unknown work by Titian.

Art historian Artur Rosenauer, a professor at the University of Vienna, who outlines his discovery in the October issue of the Burlington Magazine, wrote: "It is extremely rare for a hitherto unknown Titian to come to light."

Titian was the pre-eminent Venetian painter of the 16th century and his works are the some of the most prized works in public art collections across the world. In the UK the National Gallery and the National Galleries of Scotland successfully collaborated on their most expensive ever purchase of two of his masterpieces, Diana and Castillo and Diana and Actaeon – eventually bought for £95m.

Rosenauer said the newly identified Titian was owned by the von Bülow family in the 19th century and by Bernhard Heinrich von Bülow, chancellor of Germany 1900-09, until his death in Rome in 1929. The subsequent owners emigrated to South America before the second world war and it arrived at its present home, a European private collection, from Montevideo in Uruguay.

The painting shows Christ standing on the lid of his sealed tomb, his left hand holding the flag of resurrection and his right arm raised in triumphant blessing.

It is "astonishingly well preserved", Rosenauer said. The historian also pointed out the theatrical drama of the painted sky. "In this spectacular detail, the medium of paint is exploited to its highest potential. It is as if the light embodies a supernatural energy causing the shroud to billow and Christ's pennant to flutter."

Rosenauer has dated the painting to around 1511, when the artist would have been in his 20s. He believes it may have been painted for a confraternity devoted to the Holy Sacrament.