Painting hanging in a 90-year-old's kitchen turns out to be masterpiece worth $26 million

Imagine discovering that an old painting in your home is worth thousands. That’s exactly what happened to a 90-year-old French woman who almost threw away a piece of art hanging in her kitchen. Luckily, her children convinced her to keep it. When the painting went up for auction, the French government declared it a "national treasure" and prevented it from leaving the country, eventually placing it in the Louvre, reports My Modern Met.

Four years ago, while preparing to move, the woman considered tossing the painting, which had hung above her hot plate for years. The piece, showing Jesus Christ surrounded by people, seemed ordinary to her. But after her family consulted an art appraiser, they learned it was a 13th-century work by Italian painter Cimabue, valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars. Cimabue was one of the last artists to use the Byzantine style, which was popular in parts of Eurasia in the 1450s.

However, the woman did not remember where she got the piece and thought it was a Greek religious icon, reports CNN. This specific painting is called "Christ Mocked" and is part of an eight-part diptych that shows Christ's crucifixion and passion. Other than this artwork, only two other diptychs have been accounted for, which makes it even more valued. Eric Turquin, a Paris-based specialist who was called in to authenticate the painting, said, “We could have no doubts on the [Cimabue] attribution since this picture is clearly part of the same [altarpiece],” according to Artnet. He added that the painting had the exact same dimensions, style and hue as the other two paintings of the renowned artist.

The painting was sent for an auction in 2019 and a London-based dealer, Fabrizio Moretti, bought it for €24.2 million ($26.8 million). Moretti had said that he purchased the painting on behalf of two collectors. "It's one of the most important old master discoveries in the last 15 years. Cimabue is the beginning of everything. He started modern art. When I held the picture in my hands, I almost cried," Moretti said to The New York Times. After knowing the bid placed on the art piece, the French Government called it a "national treasure" and did not allow it to leave the country for 30 months.

Although Moretti was unhappy about it, the Louvre had time to raise funds to purchase the painting. France's cultural ministry said in a statement, "These acquisitions are the result of an exceptional mobilization of the Louvre museum, which allows to preserve in France works coveted by the greatest museums of the world and to make them accessible to all," per CNN. Soon, the painting will be up for public display in Spring in the Louvre Museum with other artworks of Cimabue.

This article originally appeared on 5.12.24.