French mechanic acquired Renoir’s long-lost painting for 700 euros

LION. Ahmed Ziani, a resident of Lyon, who has been reselling works of art since losing his job as a mechanic, may have stumbled upon a long-lost masterpiece by French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Looking through the ads on Le Bon Coin’s website, Ziani, as he himself thought, came across an unsigned 18th-century painting by the artist Vernet and offered the seller 700 euros for it. But as soon as the purchase was delivered, the 11-year-old son of Ziani found on the canvas an illegible signature “A. Renoir ”and the date of 1864 in the corner of the picture measuring 96x76 cm, reports Le Progrès.

Photo: Le Progrès

After reading Renoir’s biography, the former mechanic determined that he had before him a piece of “Soir d’été” or “Midsummer Night” written by the 23-year-old Renoir even before he developed his well-recognized, distinctive writing style. Soir d’Eté was exhibited at the Salon de Paris in 1865 along with his other work, Portrait of William Sisley, which is currently owned by the Musee d ’Orsay). After this show, the painting was included in the list of “lost” works by the French National Institute of Arts.

Several museum marks are visible on the reverse side of the painting acquired by Ziani, but there are no records of the National Museum Archive after 1853, so the fate of the painting after this date cannot be traced.

Ziani provided her find to the Bordeaux lab in order to determine if the painting is original. To date, experts have confirmed that the pigments of the picture are actually comparable to those used by Renoir at that time, and the thin canvas and frame are similar to those that the artist preferred, but the final analysis may take several months. Only after carrying out all examinations it will be possible to speak about the authenticity of the picture. The situation is further complicated by the fact that there is very little information about Soir d’Eté.

In general, we can say that 2016 is a good year for France. Only in April, the original of Caravaggio was found in the attic of a house in Toulouse, and until all the examinations are completed, a ban was imposed on the export of paintings from the country.

If it turns out that the picture found by Ziani actually belongs to the brush of Renoir, its current owner can count on very substantial payments. Recall another Renoir painting, “Ball at the Moulin de la Galette” (Bal au moulin de la Galette), became one of the most expensive in the world when it was sold for 78 million dollars at Sotheby’s in 1990.

Anna Sidorova © Gallerix.ru