Cimabue's 'Christ Mocked' Found in French Woman's Kitchen, Sells for €24M

An elderly woman from Compiègne, France, discovered that a small wooden panel hanging in her kitchen for years was a 13th-century painting by Cimabue, valued at €4-6 million. The work, titled 'Christ Mocked,' was authenticated by expert Eric Turquin. Measuring 25.8 x 20.3 cm and executed in egg tempera on a gold ground, infrared reflectography dated it to around 1280. It is believed to be part of a diptych depicting the Passion of Christ, with two other panels—'The Flagellation' at the Frick Collection in New York and 'Maestà with Two Angels' at the National Gallery in London—already known. The auction house Actéon put the painting up for auction on October 27, 2019. The sale far exceeded estimates, closing at €24 million to an anonymous buyer from Chantilly, northern France, setting a record for a pre-1500 painting. The last Cimabue to appear at auction was the 'Maestà' panel from the same diptych, sold by Sotheby's in 2000.