A Renaissance masterpiece by the Florentine master Cimabue has been found in a kitchen near Paris. 

It was hung directly above a hotplate for cooking food. 

The painting, entitled "the Mocking of Christ" by the late 13th century artist Cenni di Pepo, also known as Cimabue, will be auctioned in Senlis, France on October 27. 

This painting is estimated to be worth between four and six million euros ($4.3 million and $6.6 million), according to the Old Masters specialists Turquin.

The painting is thought to be part of a large collection dating back to 1280, when Cimabue painted eight scenes depicting Christ's passion and crucifixion.

Other scenes from the work hang in the National Gallery in London -- "The Virgin and Child with Two Angels" -- and the Frick Collection in New York ("The Flagellation of Christ").

The scene in the National Gallery was also lost for centuries, and only found when a British aristocrat was clearing his ancestral home in Suffolk.

It was given to the nation in 2000.

The French painting's elderly owner thought it was just an old religious icon when she took it to her local auctioneers to be valued. 

Early Renaissance art was hugely influenced by Byzantine art, which is still produced in a similar style today on a background of gold paint.

However, tests using infrared light found that there was "no disputing that the painting was done by the same hand" as other known works by Cimabue, said art expert Eric Turquin.

With AFP