TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A painting from the world renowned painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir was 'stranded' in a flea market. The painting was sold for only US$7 by someone who did not realize that it was a priceless masterpiece. A collector stated that the painting, which measured the size of a napkin, worth approximately US$100,000.
The painting was reported missing from the Baltimore Museum of Arts since 1951. The impressionism painting was created in 1879 was entitled the 'Paysage Bords de Seine'. For the painting, Renoir made one of his lovers as the model for the painting, sitting in a restaurant by the river.
The painting was purchased by Marcia "Martha" Fuqua, a former physical education teacher from Lovettsville, Virginia in a flea market. She bought the painting because she liked the picture frame.
She realized that the painting is a priceless masterpiece when her mother, a painter and arts teacher, told her 2,5 years later. She then brought it to the Potomack Co, an auction house in Alexandria, Virginia, who then verified it as an authentic Renoir piece.
The history behind the painting's disappearance in 1951 until was discovered in the flea market remain unknown. The painting was later disputed by Fuqua and the Baltimore Museum of Arts in Maryland. Judges then passed a verdict that the painting must be returned to the museum because it was a stolen artifact.
REUTERS | TRIP B
