Flea Market Renoir May Have Been Stolen Decades Ago

If it sounds too good to be true… That Renoir that made the feeds after being “found” at a flea market for $7 may be one previously stolen from the Baltimore Museum of Art. According to the Associated Press, a Washington Post reporter uncovered documents in the museum’s library showing that the painting was on loan there from 1937 until 1951. It was purchased at a Virginia flea market for $7. The Potomack Co. was set to auction the painting for as much as $100,000, but has put the sale on hold. The museum documents indicate the work was part of the collection of donor Saidie May and was stolen shortly after her death in 1951.

Pictured is a long unviewed painting, Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s “Paysage Bords de Seine”, that was recently unknowingly purchased at a Virginia flea market and will be sold at The Potomack Company auction gallery in Alexandria, VA on September 29. The auction gallery estimates the painting will sell for $75,000-100,000.
PR Newswire (http://s.tt/1mzDN)