A resident of France wanted to throw away a painting she found at home: it turned out to be a masterpiece worth $25 million

A resident of Compiegne, France, discovered a 25th-century work by the Florentine painter Giovanni Cimabue in her kitchen in her home. At first she wanted to throw away the painting, but then sold it for $XNUMX million, reports Insider.

Photo: IStock

Discovered hanging in a kitchen in rural France, Florentine master Cimabue's painting Christ the Mocked has been declared a national treasure. She must find her new home in the world famous Louvre in Paris.

The painting was found during a routine house cleaning in 2019. "Christ the Mocked" was eventually sold at auction for a staggering $25 million.

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The owner, a 90-year-old woman, did not know that she was looking at a treasure of art every day. She thought it was a useless icon from Russia that she planned to throw in the trash.

The buyers, Chilean billionaire couple Alvaro Sayeh Bendek, an economist, and Ana Guzman Anfelt, an architect, bought it for their private collection. But they hit a roadblock when the French government denied the film an export license.

Priceless masterpiece

The French government recognized the cultural significance of the masterpiece and declared it a national treasure. The government subsequently gave the Louvre 30 months to raise the necessary funds for its acquisition. Recently, the museum and the painting's owners reached an agreement that will ensure that the work of art will be in the Louvre's collection.

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Laurence de Cars, director of the Louvre, expressed excitement over the acquisition, saying it was a "great joy" to buy the painting. The amount the Louvre paid for it remains undisclosed.

De Cars said Cimabue's Christ the Mockery "represents a major milestone in the history of art, marking a spectacular transition from icon to painting."

“It will soon be presented together with the Maesta, another masterpiece by Cimabue in the Louvre collection, the restoration of which is currently underway,” he said.

These two paintings by Cimabue will be the subject of a spring 2025 exhibition.

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Philomena Wolf, an auctioneer in Compiegne, northern France, discovered the painting's valuable provenance. Her assessment of the artwork revealed its exceptional quality, leading her to suspect that it had Italian origins.

Subsequent research using modern technology confirmed that the artist was Cimabue, a key figure in the development of Renaissance art. Scholars believe the work dates back to 1280, making it a valuable addition to the relatively small body of work attributed to Cimabue.

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