You just never know what fortune you could be sitting on.
Thatโs what one woman learned when a painting that hung over the hot plate in the kitchen of her home sold at auction for $26 million.
The painting hung in plain sight in the open kitchen where it was barely recognized by family and friends or even by the woman herself.
The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, says she has no idea where the painting came from or how long it had been in the familyโs possession. The woman is in her 90s and simply thought the painting was an old icon from Russia.
The house where the painting resided is in Compiรจgne, which is north of Paris.
The painting in question is a work of art by none other than 13th-century Florentine painter, Cimabue.
Cimabue, also known as Cenni di Pepo, was a well-known Italian Renaissance artist. In fact, he is considered the forefather of the Italian Renaissance. Much of his work is unsigned and rarely found at auctions making this find even more of delicacy.
The small painting, measuring 10-inch by 8-inch, is titled โChrist Mockedโ.
The painting was put in an auction that took place on Sunday in Paris. The auction, held at the Actรฉon auction house in Senlis, brought in 800 people for the historic event.
The auction house stated that the sale of the painting was the biggest ever for a medieval painting and the eighth highest for a medieval or old master painting.
Cimabue is in good company. He now joins the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, and Raphael on the list of the top 10 most expensive old painting sales.
Quite impressive.
Not only were there bidders in attendance to attempt to buy the top prize, but there were bidders on the phone as well.
Dominique Le Coent, the head of the auction house stated:
โWhen a unique work of a painter as rare as Cimabue comes to market, you have to be ready for surprises.โ
He continued, โThis is the only Cimabue that has ever come on the market.โ
Though the lucky new owner was not revealed, they did share that a โforeign museumโ was amongst the bidders.
For Cimabue to make such an impact, there are only 11 pieces of art by the renowned artist.
As the price of the art went up, the auctioneer stated, โThere will never be another Cimabue at auction.โ
To verify its origins, the painting was tested by art specialists at Cabinet Turquin. They used infrared reflectography that determined that the piece was also a part of a larger diptych from 1280.
Cimabue painted eight scenes in total from the passion and crucifixion of Christ.
Every two panels of the diptych has four scenes.
One scene, โThe Virgin and Child with Two Angelsโ hangs in the National Gallery in London.
The other, โThe Flagellation of Christ,โ is in the Frick Collection in New York.
Jerome Montcouquil, one of the art specialists at Turquin, explained how they were able to see how the pieces fit together.
He explained, โThey are all made with the same technique on the same wood panel so you can follow the grain of the wood through the different scenes.โ
Fortunately, they found the artwork at the time they did.
Philomรจne Wolf, was the auctioneer who went in to examine the items in the house.
โI had to make room in my schedule โฆ if I didnโt, then everything was due to go to the dump.โ
Wow! What a find. Donโt toss out that old and dusty item stored away in your attic. You might ever know what itโs worth!
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