Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Cimabue Masterpiece Found in Kitchen Sells for $26.6 Million

An old painting found in the kitchen of an elderly French woman, who considered it an icon of little importance, has made her a multimillionaire.

PARIS (AP) — An old painting found in the kitchen of an elderly French woman, who considered it an icon of little importance, has made her a multimillionaire.

The work, a masterpiece attributed to the 13th-century Italian painter Cimabue that was discovered this year, sold for $26.6 million Sunday.

Dominique Le Coent of Acteon Auction House, who sold the masterpiece to an anonymous buyer near Chantilly, north of Paris, said the sale represented a "world record for a primitive, or a pre-1500 work."

"It's a painting that was unique, splendid and monumental. Cimabue was the father of the Renaissance. But this sale goes beyond all our dreams," Le Coent told The Associated Press.

An auctioneer spotted the painting in June while inspecting a woman's house in Compiegne in northern France and suggested she bring it to experts for evaluation. It hung on a wall between the kitchen and dining room.

The woman will receive "the majority" of the sale money, the auction house said.

The expected sale price had been $4.4 million to $6.6 million.

Le Coent said experts were off the mark because it was the first time a Cimabue had ever gone under the hammer. "There's never been a Cimabue painting on sale so there was no reference previously on how much it could make," he said.

The painting, "Christ Mocked," measures about 10 inches by 8 inches. Art experts say it is likely part of a larger diptych that Cimabue painted around 1280, of which two other panels are displayed at the Frick Collection in New York and the National Gallery in London.

The painting's discovery sent ripples of excitement through the art world.

Cimabue, who taught Italian master Giotto, is considered the forefather of the Italian Renaissance. He broke from the Byzantine style popular in the Middle Ages and began to incorporate elements of movement and perspective that came to characterize Western painting.

Specialists at the Turquin gallery in Paris examined the painting and concluded with "certitude" that it bore the hallmarks of Cimabue.

Stephane Pinta, an art specialist with Turquin, cited likenesses in facial expressions and buildings, as well as the painter's techniques for conveying light and distance.

Categories / Arts, International

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...