SENLIS, France — A medieval painting that hung for years near the kitchen of an older Frenchwoman before being recognized as a work by the Italian artist Cimabue was auctioned on Sunday in France for $26.8 million.

The unsigned tempera panel of “The Mocking of Christ” was the first work believed to have been painted by Cimabue — considered the “father” of Western painting — to sell at auction in living memory. Estimated to sell for 4 million to 6 million euros in an auction of low-value antiques, it eventually fetched € 24.2 million with fees at the regional auction house Actéon, north of Paris.

The price was believed to be the highest for a European old master painting at auction since Leonardo’s “Salvator Mundi” sold for a record-shattering $450.3 million at Christie’s in 2017.

The work was bought by the London-based dealer Fabrizio Moretti against competition from at least six other bidders.