CNN —The Louvre Museum in Paris has added a “national treasure” to its collection four years after it was discovered during a house clearance. “Christ Mocked” by the Florentine painter Cimabue was found in an elderly woman’s house in the town of Compiegne in 2019. She had kept the rare artwork – which she thought was a Greek religious icon – in her kitchen. But the French government then stepped in to block its export, assigning the painting “national treasure” status. It will join the much larger Cimabue painting “Maestà” in the Louvre collection, and both works will be part of an exhibition event in spring 2025, according to the ministry.

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Persons: ”, Cimabue, Jerome Montcouquil, Cenni, Pepo, Philippe Lopez, Rima Abdul Malak, Laurence des, Giotto, Christ Organizations: CNN, Louvre Museum, AFP, Getty, Frick Locations: Paris, Compiegne, Greek, France, Florence, London, British, Suffolk, New York