Million-dollar Painting Found Hanging in French Kitchen

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September 24, 2019

A painting hanging above an electrical appliance in a French kitchen was done by a famous Renaissance artist and could be worth more than $6 million.

Cimabue lost painting

The 8-inch-by-11-inch painting is Christ Mocked, part of a series of eight scenes from the last days of Jesus. The artist was Cimabue, who some art historians revere as influential in the development of Western painting.

An auctioneer saw the painting, in a house in the town of Compiègne, and told the woman who owned it that it was much more than just an old art work. Experts think that the painting, which dates to the 1280s, will be valued at between $4.4 million and $6.6 million when it goes up for auction, on October 27 at the Acteon auction house in Senlis. It is thought to be the first work by the Florentine painter ever to be auctioned.

Two other sections of the eight-section diptych hang in public galleries–one (The Virgin and Child with Two Angels) in the National Gallery in London and the other (The Flagellation of Christ)in the Frick Collection in New York. The work now hanging in the National Gallery was found in a Suffolk home when the family found reason to empty the contents.

Cimabue, who was also known as Cenni de Pepo, worked in Florence, his birthplace, and in Assisi and Pisa. He was known for his frescoes and mosaics. He is credited with discovering and training Giotto, whom many art historians consider the greatest Italian painter of the 14th Century.

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David White

Social Studies for Kids
copyright 2002–2024
David White