Renoir painting, bought for $ 7, auctioned off

The painting "Landscape on the Seine" (Paysage Bords de Seine) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir was supposed to be auctioned this Saturday. However, at the last moment, the press secretary of the Potomac auction house in the city of Alexandria (Virginia) announced that the work of art was removed from the auction. According to preliminary estimates, the initial cost of the landscape may be 75,000 - 100,000 dollars.

The reason for this decision was a statement by the leadership of the Art Museum in Baltimore that the canvas was stolen from the museum back in 1951. The theft was discovered after employees checked the museum’s archived records.

"Landscape on the Seine" previously belonged to collector Herbert May, and was bequeathed to the museum in Baltimore. However, May’s wife, Sadie, asked to leave the masterpieces in her use until her own death. Sadie May died in 1951, after which all the paintings, except for those written by Renoir, were in the museum.

“At the moment, we just want to make sure who the real owner of the canvas is,” says Doreen Bolger, director of the Baltimore Museum.

FBI officials have already joined in the investigation of these facts.

Anna Sidorova