Battered old painting hanging in pensioner’s kitchen that was going to be thrown in the skip sells for £21million

A NATIONAL treasure has been welcomed into the Louvre after being discovered during a house clearance.

The painting Christ Mocked, by Cimabue, was found in a pensioner's house in the small French town of Compiegne.

The elderly lady had kept it in her kitchen, and claimed that she did not know where it came from.

She said that she had thought that the rare painting was just a Greek religious icon.

Measuring just ten inches by four inches, the artwork dates back to 1280.

It would have ended up in a skip but for a chance sighting by an auctioneer during a house clearance.

He suggested taking it to be valued, and experts discovered it was a lost masterpiece - one of only a dozen or so known to exist by the artist.

It then sold for£21 million at auction - over four times its estimate, and a world record for a pre-1500 work.

However, the French government stepped in to block its export, and awarded the painting the status of "national treasure".

This move kept the artwork on hold while the government attempted to raise the funds to buy it on behalf of the nation.

Now, the French minister of culture and the president of the Louvre have announced that the painting forms part of the museum’s collection.

The French ministry failed to provide any details in regards to how the money was raised.

But spokesperson Rima Abdul Malak went on to call the painting “a crucial milestone in art history, marking the fascinating transition from icon to painting.

She said: "These acquisitions are the result of an exceptional mobilization of the Louvre Museum which allows to preserve in France works coveted by the greatest museums of the world and to make them accessible to all.”

The ministry added the painting “is a national treasure of major importance.";

It is due to join Cimabue's much larger painting “Maestà” in the Louvre collection.

According to Rima, both artworks will be part of an exhibition event in spring 2025.

Christ Mocked is part of a diptych that once comprised eight scenes focusing on the passion of Christ.

Another scene from the artwork titled The Virgin and Child with Two Angels can currently be found in the National Gallery in London.

The gallery acquired the work in 2000 after it was found by a British aristocrat in his home in Suffolk.

A third scene, The Flagellation of Christ, is part of the Frick Collection in New York.

Cimabue is the pseudonym of the artist Cenni di Pepo, who was born in Florence around the year 1240.

Cenni di Pepo is regarded as the grandfather of Renaissance art.

He taught Giotto, who is renowned for being one of the greatest artists of the era.