A Renaissance painting discovered in a French woman's kitchen has sold for €24 million (£20.5 million), making it the most expensive medieval painting ever sold at auction. The work, titled Christ Mocked by 13th-century Florentine artist Cimabue, had hung above a hotplate for decades in a house near Compiègne, north of Paris.
The owner, a woman in her 90s, and her family believed the small unsigned panel—measuring just 26cm by 20cm—was an old Russian icon. It was only spotted during a house clearance by auctioneer Philomène Wolf, who was valuing furniture. Wolf recognised its quality and suggested an expert evaluation, initially estimating a price of €300,000–€400,000 before it was valued at millions.
At the auction in Senlis on Sunday, the painting fetched €19.5 million under the hammer, rising to over €24 million with fees. The sale set a record for a medieval painting and placed it among the top ten most expensive old master works, alongside pieces by Leonardo da Vinci, Rubens, Rembrandt, and Raphael.
Dominique Le Coent, head of the Actéon auction house, said: 'When a unique work of a painter as rare as Cimabue comes to market, you have to be ready for surprises. This is the only Cimabue that has ever come on the market.' The buyer's identity was not disclosed, but a foreign museum was among the bidders.
Cimabue, who taught Giotto, is considered a pioneer of the early Italian Renaissance. Only 11 works on wood are attributed to him, none signed. Christ Mocked was part of a larger diptych from 1280; two other scenes from the same work hang in the National Gallery in London and the Frick Collection in New York.
