The documentary, entitled The Polish El Greco, shows how the The Ecstasy of St Francis was uncovered in 1964 by two Polish art historians in Kosów Lacki, a small town in eastern Poland, hanging on a wall over a sofa in a priest’s apartment.
While mystery still surrounds the early history of the painting, it was established that the work was purchased in a Warsaw antique shop in 1927 as a gift for the parish priest.
The new film is a production by Poland’s Pilecki Institute and public broadcaster Polish Television. Following its cinema premiere on Tuesday, it will be screened on TV for the first time on March 31.
Izabella Galicka, one of the art historians who discovered the painting, died at the age of 88 in 2019.
After years of conservation work, the painting by El Greco, a Greek-born Renaissance artist, was transferred to a museum in the eastern city of Siedlce.
(pk)
Source: IAR