Long-lost Italian masterpiece sold for US$26.6 million after being found covered in grime in French kitchen
Long-lost Italian masterpiece sold for US$26.6 million after being found covered in grime in French kitchen
- Christ Mocked, by Italian early Renaissance artist Cimabue, fetched five times the initial estimate
- Painting was originally displayed right above a cooking hotplate
Art expert Stephane Pinta holds a 13th-century painting by Italian master Cimabue in Paris in September. Photo: AP
A rare masterpiece by Italian early Renaissance master Cimabue that was discovered in a French kitchen was sold on Sunday for €24 million (US$26.6 million), about five times the initial estimate.
The Acteon auction house did not identify the winning bidder for the painting, Christ Mocked, at the sale in Senlis, outside Paris.
The selling price, which included fees, smashed the initial estimate of between €4 million and €6 million.
It is the first time in decades that a painting by Cimabue, who lived from 1272-1302 and is also known as Cenni di Pepo, has gone under the hammer.
A part of the painting Christ Mocked, a long-lost masterpiece by Renaissance artist Cimabue, which was found months ago hanging in an elderly woman's kitchen in the town of Compiegne, is seen in Paris in September. Photo: Reuters
Acteon said in a statement that the figure was the highest ever reached for a medieval painting and the seventh highest ever reached for a medieval or old master painting.
The highest figure ever reached for a painting was the US$450 million reached by the Salvator Mundi attributed to Leonardo da Vinci and sold at auction in 2017.
Experts in September announced the sensational discovery of the painting by Cimabue which was owned by a woman in the northern French town of Compiegne, who had it hanging between her kitchen and her sitting room.
She believed it was merely an old religious icon when she took it to the auctioneers to be valued.
The tiny unsigned work, measuring just 26cm by 20cm (10 inches by 8 inches), was found to be in excellent condition, though covered in grime from having been displayed right above a cooking hotplate.
Art experts at Turquin in Paris used infrared reflectology to confirm that the piece is part of a larger diptych from 1280, when Cimabue painted eight scenes of the passion and crucifixion of Christ. Each of the two panels in the diptych had four scenes.
Only two other elements of the diptych are known to exist: The Flagellation of Christ, displayed at the Frick in New York, and The Virgin and Child with Two Angels, at the National Gallery in London.
Cimabue is renowned for his mosaics, frescoes and altarpieces.
Stephane Pinta takes takes a painting by Italian master Cimabue out of a glass case in Paris in September. Photo: AP
Historians say only about a dozen works on wood – all unsigned – are thought to have been made by the Italian artist.
His more natural and nuanced depictions marked a turning point for Italian painters still influenced by highly stylised Byzantine art.
Art historians consider him a trailblazer for the creative Renaissance that would flourish under greats like Giotto, one of Cimabue’s pupils.
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