Renaissance painting found in elderly woman's kitchen sells for £20.7m

A Renaissance masterpiece found in an elderly French woman's kitchen was sold for £20.7million at auction, making it most expensive medieval painting ever sold. woman d in her 90's h artwork hanging for deces directly above a cooking hotplate in her kitchen and was completely unaware of significance of masterpiece named 'Christ Mocked'. painting measuring just 20cm by 26cm, went for more than four times pre-sale estimate of €4-6 million at Acteon auction house in Senlis, rth of Paris on October 27. 90-year-old will w be receiving majority of sale money which she h thought was simply an old religious work.

unsigned painting

Earlier back in June, an auctioneer spotted painting while valuing furniture ahe of woman's house move in Compiegne in rrn France and suggested that she should get painting assessed by experts. unsigned painting on a wooden panel is attributed to 13th century Florentine artist Cimabue, also kwn as Cenni di Pepo. According to experts, painting was probably part of a larger display of eight small panels of passion and crucifixion of Christ that is believed to be painted back in 1280. Two of panels are also on display at Frick Collection in New York and National Gallery in London. Dominique Le Coent, of Aceton auction house, told an international media that it was first time a Cimabue work h ever gone under hammer. 

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Cimabue, forefar of Italian Renaissance

Cimabue was one of most pioneering artists of early Italian Renaissance and only 11 works painted on wood have been attributed to him, ne of m signed. art experts at Turquin used infrared reflectography to confirm that piece was a part of a larger diptych. National Gallery has reportedly described Cimabue's work as representing a crucial moment in history of art when Italian painters were exploring naturalistic depiction of forms and three- dimensional . Cimabue is also considered forefar of Italian Renaissance as he broke from Byzantine style popular in Middle s. 

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