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September 23, 2019It was attached to the wall in a house in Compiègne, north of Paris, but was authenticated as a painting by the great Cimabue (1240-1302), the 'mocking Christ': an expert expert Turquin announced today in ancient art.

The 'Cristo deriso' is a work on small wood (25.8 cm on 20.3 cm), painted in egg tempera on a golden background. Estimated between 4 and 6 million euros, it will be auctioned in Senlis on 27 October.

The works of Cimabue are very rare and that of Compiègne turns out to be the first discovery in tens of years in this part. To signal the work to the Actéon auction house in Compiègne, which had it evaluated by the Maison Turquin, was an old lady who lived in that house in northern France. The painting hung between the living room and the kitchen and the family always thought it was a trivial icon.

CLUS EXCLUSIF - Accroché dans une cuisine, ce panneau de bois que ses propriétaires pensaient être une icône a été authentifié. The east the œuvre du célèbre maître italien de la pré-Renaissance. The expert Éric Turquin a fait cette excitante découverte mise ... https://t.co/C5Jv0eIIcg

- Le Figaro Premium 🗞 (@lefigaropremium) September 23, 2019
The infrared reflectography revealed an excellent state of preservation, specified Eric Turquin, who estimated the work and according to which on the "attribution there will be no discussion from what is evident, comparing it with his other paintings, that it is the same hand "of the Florentine master. According to the laboratory of experts, the picture found is a probable element of a diptych of 1280, in which some scenes of the Passion of Christ were represented, probably on eight panels of similar size. So far, of these panels, two were known: 'The Flagellation' of the Frick Collection of New York, and the 'Majesty with two angels', preserved at the National Gallery in London.