Forgotten El Greco Revealed By Polish Priests

A masterpiece by the painter El Greco, discovered accidentally 40 years ago by two young art historians and concealed by the Catholic Church, has finally gone on display in Poland.

The Ecstasy of Saint Francis was hanging on a wall in a priest's house in the village of Kosow Lacki, about 100km east of Warsaw, when art historians Izabella Galicka and Hanna Sygietynska stumbled on it by chance in 1964.

But it took 10 years for the local bishop to order a study that confirmed the painting was an El Greco and another three decades passed with the painting kept in secrecy by the church, afraid the Communist authorities would seize it.

At last in a ceremony on Friday attended by the head of the Catholic Church in Poland, Cardinal Jozef Glemp, the El Greco was unveiled at a museum in Siedlce.

"This is a great event for the church and for us all," Cardinal Glemp told AFP.

Back in 1964, Galicka, who was looking for undiscovered art works, walked into the priest's house and saw the painting.

At first the Polish art world dismissed the possibility of it being an El Greco.

But 10 years later, in 1974, after the death of the priest, the painting became the property of the bishop of Siedlce and he asked for an analysis.

Art experts found the signature of El Greco, so called because he was born in Crete.

The painting, by the Greek-born Spanish artist, whose real name was Domenikos Theotokopoulos, is a rare find for art historians.

The director of the Siedlce museum, Father Henryk Drozd, said the church had never shown the painting, dated from 1575 to 1580 and valued at three million euro ($5.14 million), for fear it could be expropriated.

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