The ''Virgin and Child with Two Angels'' is a panel painting by the Italian artist

Cimabue Giovanni Cimabue ( , ; – 1302), Translated with an introduction and notes by J.C. and P Bondanella. Oxford: Oxford University Press (Oxford World's Classics), 1991, pp. 7–14. . also known as Cenni di Pepo or Cenni di Pepi, was an Italian p ...

egg tempera Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. ''Tempera'' also refers to the paintings done in ...

on a poplar panel, dated to c. 1280. It has been held by the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

in London since 2000. The painting measures . It depicts the

Virgin and Child In Christian art, a Madonna () is a religious depiction of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a singular form or sometimes accompanied by the Child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word ...

seated together on a throne, accompanied by two angels with long feathered wings. The composition is based on

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

models, but modified for a Western European audience: the throne has become three-dimensional, and the figures of the Virgin and Child are more human and less stylised than similar traditional Byzantine icons such as the

Hodegetria A Hodegetria, or Virgin Hodegetria, is an iconography, iconographic depiction of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary) holding the Child Jesus at her side while pointing to him as the source of salvation for humankind. The Virgin's head usually inclines t ...

. The panel was rediscovered at Benacre Hall near Lowestoft in Suffolk in 2000, after the death of Sir John Gooch, 12th Baronet, as the contents of the house were being prepared for an auction sale. It may have been acquired in Florence in the early 19th century by his ancestor, Sir Edward Gooch, 6th Baronet, and survived a fire at the house in the 1920s. It is one of three known panels from a

polyptych A polyptych ( ; Greek: ''poly-'' "many" and ''ptychē'' "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) which is divided into sections, or panels. Some definitions restrict "polyptych" to works with more than three sections: a diptych is ...

depicting the

Passion of Christ The Passion (from latin language, Latin , "to suffer, bear, endure") is the short final period before the death of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, described in the four canonical gospels. It is commemorated in Christianity every year during Holy ...

. From its physical characteristics, it was the top left of four panels on the left leaf of a diptych, and it quickly became apparent from its size, style and method that it was almost identical to a panel held by the

Frick Collection The Frick Collection (colloquially known as the Frick) is an art museum on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was established in 1935 to preserve the collection of the industrialist Henry Clay Frick. The collection (museum) ...

in New York since 1950, '' The Flagellation of Christ''. The discovery of this panel encouraged a change in the attribution of the Frick panel from

Duccio Duccio di Buoninsegna ( , ; – ), commonly known as just Duccio, was an Italian painter active in Siena, Tuscany, in the late 13th and early 14th century. He was hired throughout his life to complete many important works in government and religi ...

to Cimabue. A third panel, '' The Mocking of Christ'', was found in France in 2019, and auctioned for 24 million euros. The panel was put up for sale and was expected to sell for £10 million, but before it was sold it was accepted in lieu of

inheritance tax International tax law distinguishes between an estate tax and an inheritance tax. An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and pro ...

and allocated to the

. The heirs were granted a £6.5 million tax exemption, and a donation from Sir John Paul Getty Jr. allowed the gallery to pay a further £700,000. The other contents of the hall were sold in May 2000 for £8.3 million, a record for a country house sale in the UK. File:Cimabue Christ Mocked.jpg, Cimabue, '' The Mocking of Christ'', Louvre File:Cimabue - Flagellation.jpg, Cimabue, ''The Flagellation of Christ'', Frick Collection File:Cimabue Diptych Overview Simple FR.svg, A proposed reconstruction of the Diptych of Devotion

Sources

''The Virgin and Child with Two Angels'', Cimabue
National Gallery
A long-lost Cimabue has emerged – and the 'first light' of painting now burns brighter than ever
Donal Cooper, ''Apollo Magazine'', 14 October 2019
Forgotten masterpiece to 'fetch £2m'
BBC News, 16 February 2000
Small picture, big price tag
Maev Kennedy, ''The Guardian'', 17 February 2000
Sotheby's negotiate sale of Cimabue masterpiece to the nation
(PDF) Sotheby's, 29 June 2000

Will Bennett, ''The Telegraph'', 30 June 2000

Carol Vogel, ''New York Times'', 30 June 2000
Cimabue panel found hanging in kitchen to be auctioned in France estimated at €4m-6m
Alex Capon, ''Antiques Trade Gazette'', 24 September 2019
13th century masterpiece found in French kitchen sells for record £20.7m
David Chazan, ''The Telegraph'', 27 October 2019 {{Cimabue 1280s paintings Angels in art Paintings in the National Gallery, London Paintings by Cimabue Paintings of the Madonna and Child