Judge rules Renoir bought at flea market must be returned to museumJanuary 11, 2014 - 12:00 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - A Renoir painting finished in the 1800s, loaned to a museum, reported stolen in 1951, then bought at a flea market in 2010 has to be returned to the museum, a judge ruled Friday, Jan 10, according to CNN. The story - and the painting - date back to 1879, when impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted "Paysage Bords De Seine," or "Landscape on the Banks of the Seine," which was believed to be for his mistress. It was later purchased by the Paris art gallery Bernheim-Jeune. Then, in 1926, Herbert L. May, a Renoir collector, bought it from the Paris gallery. In 1937, May's ex-wife, Saidie May, loaned the painting to the Baltimore Museum of Art, which reported it stolen in 1951. Fast-forward nearly 60 years to a flea market in West Virginia, where a Virginia woman was attracted to a nondescript box holding the painting, along with items like a Paul Bunyan doll and a plastic cow. She paid $7 for the box. The woman took the painting to the Potomack Company, an Auction House in Alexandria, Virginia, to ask about its value. A Potomack Company specialist thought it might be an original, and further investigation by the National Gallery of Art in Washington and confirmation by a Renoir expert confirmed the hunch. The painting is valued between $75,000 and $100,000. The whereabouts of the painting during the six decades it was missing remain unknown. "Life has so many twists and turns. It has friendships and deaths and divorces and all kinds of chaos, moving, you know changing of occupation," Doreen Bolger, director of the Baltimore Museum of Art, told CNN in 2012. "It's very hard to speculate what of those circumstances would cause the painting to change hands." The Virginia woman, who had requested to be anonymous, felt the painting was rightfully hers. However, the Baltimore Museum of Art wanted the 5½-by-9-inch Renoir returned. So the FBI took possession of the painting until the rightful owner could be determined. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema in Alexandria decided that the painting must be returned to the Baltimore Museum of Art. Related links: Top stories The creative crew of the Public TV had chosen 13-year-old Malena as a participant of this year's contest. She called on others to also suspend their accounts over the companies’ failure to tackle hate speech. Penderecki was known for his film scores, including for William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist”, Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”. The festival made the news public on March 19, saying that “several options are considered in order to preserve its running” Partner news | Kazakhstan welcomes Yerevan, Baku’s agreement to meet in Almaty Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the agreement of Baku and Yerevan to hold negotiations in Almaty. Armenia offers to temporarily host, preserve Gaza manuscripts The Armenian Foreign Minister has said Yerevan is ready to help preserve manuscripts from the conflict zone in Gaza. Aliyev says no need for mediators in Armenia-Azerbaijan process Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev believes that Baku and Yerevan do not mediators in the process of normalizing relations. Aram I supports Karekin II’s “patriotic position” Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I has expressed support for the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. |