The picture, which has been at Buckland Abbey in Devon, southwest England, since it was donated to the trust in 2010, was thought for decades to be a portrait by one of the Dutch Master's pupils.
But the world's leading Rembrandt expert has now re-attributed it to the 17th-century master himself.
It has been given a new value of £20 million -- though the National Trust said it can never be sold as the organization holds items on behalf of the nation forever.
"These latest investigations are incredibly exciting and important," said David Taylor, the trust's curator of paintings and sculpture.
"Conservation work and technical analysis being undertaken over the winter will give us further confirmation regarding the picture's authorship."
The self-portrait, dated 1635, shows the artist aged 29 wearing a cap with large white ostrich feathers.
The painting was donated to the National Trust by the widow of a wealthy property developer in her estate.
The painting will hang at the 700-year-old abbey -- which was formerly the home of 16th-century explorer Francis Drake -- for another eight months before being sent for cleaning and further examination.
When it first arrived at the abbey it was kept in storage for 18 months as there was nowhere to hang it, but it now becomes one of the National Trust's most important paintings.
Read more at Discovery News
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