IT IS only luck that this original painting by Hungarian artist Judy Cassab, is safe and in the hands of the Mount Isa City Council.
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The large portrait of Sir James Foots, a former chairman of Mount Isa Mines, was removed from the old library - along with several others - not long before the building was devastated by rain damage.
It now hangs proudly in its new home in the Mount Isa Civic Centre's foyer.
The artist, Judy Cassab was born Judit Kaszab in Vienna, Austria in 1920 to Hungarian parents and has since twice won the Archibald prize for two of her other original artworks.
Mayor Tony McGrady said it was pure luck this painting, among others, was removed from the library prior to damage it received years later.
"Artworks like these show the vast amount of history our city holds and to imagine this painting (last valued at $15,000) could have been lost to recent damage in the old library structure," Mr McGrady said.
"We are just very lucky to still have paintings of this sort lining the walls of the Mount Isa Civic Centre, rather than those of the water logged old library."
