Renoir Flea Market Find May Belong to Museum
Baku, October 1 (AZERTAC). A one-of-a-kind flea market find of a Renoir painting by a Virginia woman may turn into a courtroom battle after it was discovered the painting may have been stolen from an art museum decades ago.
The painting, a river Seine scene titled “Paysage Bords de Seine,” was scheduled to be auctioned on Saturday but that has been put on hold after a reporter for The Washington Post uncovered documents from the Baltimore Museum of Art showing that the painting was stolen from the museum in 1951.
Instead of calling the auction, where the painting was expected to command at least $75,000, officials from the Alexandria, Va.-based Potomack Company auction house and the museum called the FBI, which has opened an investigation into the theft.
The discovery by the Post reporter could go a long way in explaining how an Impressionist painting by the famous French painter ended up at a flea market in West Virginia where the woman, who has not revealed her name, bought it in a bucket of art items for $60 total.
She noticed that a plaque that said “Renoir” was affixed to the painting, so she took the canvas to the Potomack Company to have it checked, according to the statement.
When Craner removed the painting from the plastic bag in which it was stored, she said she was struck by the rapid brush strokes and vibrant purple and pink colors, all of which reminded her of another Renoir work, “Landscape of Wargemont.” Further investigation confirmed the woman`s painting was “Paysage Bords de Seine.”
When the woman`s find was announced, media coverage said the records showed the painting was last purchased by an international lawyer in Paris in 1926.
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