The French Culture Minister hopes the 30-month ban will allow the Louvre time to raise to enough money to buy the painting, which was hanging in an elderly woman's kitchen.
"This Derision of Christ, which has remained in good condition, reveals, even more than in the other two compositions, the use by Cimabue of a new plastic language," Mr Riester's translated statement read.
"This evolution is notably visible in the humanist treatment of the figure of Jesus, the rendering of the expressions of the characters or that of the space." Mr Riester said it was believed the painting was on the right panel, and was possibly commissioned by a religious congregation in Pisa. An auctioneer spotted the painting while inspecting the elderly woman's house and suggested she bring it to experts for an evaluation.
She was cleaning out her house after selling it to move into a retirement home, the BBC reported, and believed it to be of little value."I had to make space in my diary, otherwise it would all have gone to the recycling.
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