Paris (AFP)
The Ministry of Culture announced Monday the ban on the export of a very rare masterpiece by the Italian painter Cimabue, sold at auction in October for more than 24 million euros, to allow its purchase for French national collections .
The painting, "Christ mocked", was found by chance, during a move, in the house of an elderly lady in Compiègne (Oise). It was the first time that a painting by Cimabue (died 1302), one of the greatest figures of the Italian Pre-Renaissance, had been put up for auction in decades.
Awarded at more than 24 million euros, including costs, it had become the most expensive primitive painting in public sale in the world.
But in a statement on Monday, the Ministry of Culture said that, "following the opinion of the Advisory Committee on National Treasures, the Minister of Culture signed the decree refusing the export certificate".
The buyer's identity had not been revealed after the sale, but according to press reports, it was bought for the Alana private collection, belonging to a couple of Chilean collectors based in the United States and specialized in Italian Renaissance art.
The ministerial decision opens "a period of thirty months (...) which will be used to raise the funds necessary to carry out an acquisition for the benefit of public national collections," said the press release.
© 2019 AFP