Crazy to think about what treasures lie abandoned anywhere. Good they spotted this one.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

A 13th-century painting found hanging over the kitchen stove of an elderly French woman and later sold for €24m (£21m) at auction has been acquired by the Louvre after a ban on its exportation.

The Paris museum says the pre-Renaissance painting, now one of the oldest works in its collection, will be the centrepiece of an exhibition in 2025 after a four-year effort to keep it in France.

France’s culture ministry promptly declared the work a “national treasure” and placed the painting under a temporary export ban, giving the Louvre 30 months to raise the necessary funds to buy it.

Only two other panels in the series have been found: The Flagellation of Christ is held by the Frick Collection in New York; and The Virgin and Child with Two Angels is at the National Gallery in London.

The National Gallery describes the series as representing “a crucial moment in the history of art” when Italian painters moved towards more realistic depictions of their subjects.

The original owner, who was in her 90s and had moved to a care home, was unable to enjoy the sudden windfall, having died two days after the auction.

The original article contains 500 words, the summary contains 194 words. Saved 61%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!