“Christ Mocked, by the 13th-century Florentine painter Cimabue, had hung for decades above a cooking hotplate in the kitchen of a 1960s house near Compiègne, north of Paris, before it was spotted by an auctioneer who had come to value furniture for a house move. But after the unsigned work was bought at auction in October by US-based private collectors, the French state this week classified the painting as a ‘national treasure’ and refused it an export certificate. The move gives the French state 30 months to attempt to find [€24 million in] funding to acquire the picture itself.” – The Guardian