Early Renaissance painting found in French kitchen fetches $39 million

An elderly woman has just become a multi-millionaire after discovering something extremely rare in her kitchen.

A rare masterpiece by Italian early Renaissance master Cimabue that was discovered in a French kitchen was sold on Sunday for 24 million euros (A$39 million), about five times the initial estimate.

The Acteon auction house did not identify the winning bidder for the painting, “Christ Mocked”, at the sale in Senlis, outside Paris.

The selling price, which included fees, smashed the initial estimate of between four million and six million euros.

It is the first time in decades that a painting by Cimabue, who lived from 1272-1302 and is also known as Cenni di Pepo, has gone under the hammer.

Acteon said in a statement to AFP that the figure was the highest ever reached for a medieval painting.

A masterpiece attributed to the 13th-century Italian painter Cimabue was discovered in an elderly French woman's kitchen, above her cooking hotplate. Picture: AP Photo/Michel Euler,

Experts in September announced the sensational discovery of the painting by Cimabue which was owned by a woman in the northern French town of Compiegne, who had it hanging between her kitchen and her sitting room.

She believed it was merely an old religious icon when she took it to the auctioneers to be valued.

The tiny unsigned work, measuring just 26 by 20 centimetres, was found to be in excellent condition, though covered in grime from having been displayed right above a cooking hotplate.

Art expert Stephane Pinta takes out of a glass case a painting by Italian master Cimabue in Paris. It sold at auction for A$39 million. Picture: AP Photo/Michel Euler

Art experts at Turquin in Paris used infra-red reflectology to confirm that the piece is part of a larger diptych from 1280, when Cimabue painted eight scenes of the passion and crucifixion of Christ. Each of the two panels in the diptych had four scenes.

Only two other elements of the diptych are known to exist: “The Flagellation of Christ” displayed at the Frick in New York, and “The Virgin and Child with Two Angels” at the National Gallery in London.

Cimabue is renowned for his mosaics, frescoes and altarpieces.

Historians say only about a dozen works on wood — all unsigned — are thought to have been made by the Italian artist.