13th-Century Painting Found in Kitchen Goes to Louvre

Government action helped museum acquire 'Christ Mocked'
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 17, 2023 5:05 PM CST
Export Ban Helps Louvre Acquire Long-Missing Painting
Art expert Stephane Pinta holds Christ Mocked, a 13th-century painting by Cimabue, in Paris in 2019.   (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)

After being outbid for the painting in 2019, the Louvre has completed a four-year effort to acquire the 13th-century painting Christ Mocked. A government export ban helped make the acquisition possible. The work by Cimabue was headed for the trash when the family of the owner, a Frenchwoman in her 90s, decided to have an expert look at the painting hanging over the stove in her kitchen. When Christ Mocked reached auction, the winning bid of $24 million was out of the museum's league, the Guardian reports. The nation's Culture Ministry then declared the work a national treasure and temporarily prohibited its export. The Louvre was given 30 months to come up with the money, and it did.

The Culture Ministry did not specify how it raised the purchase price, per CNN. The painting measures roughly 10 inches by 7.75 inches and is thought by experts to be one of eight panels from a large diptych by the Florentine artist—whose name was Cenni di Pepo—five of which remain missing. There are only about 15 known Cimabue works. The ministry called Mocked Christ "a crucial milestone in art history, marking the fascinating transition from icon to painting." The Louvre already has a much larger Cimabue, Maestà. The two are scheduled to debut in a museum exhibition in spring 2025. (More The Louvre stories.)

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