THE RENOIR GIRL - UNCOVERED by John P. Flannery

Do you think finding a Renoir painting at a flea market in West Virginia for $7 is like winning the lottery?

That’s what happened to Marcia M. Fuqua of Lovettsville in 2009.

At the urging of her mother who is an artist. after having the painting for several years, Marcia had the landscape she bought at a flea market examined by an expert and discovered it was the work of the great French impressionist, Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Sacre Bleu!

Renoir, from Limoges, France, painted portraits and figures but it was his landscapes in the 1880s that were particularly notable for his brand of Impressionism.

“I didn’t know what I had,” said Marcia.  “I liked the frame, to tell the truth.”

When Marcia went to sell the painting at an auction house, the Potomack Company, they thought the painting might garner as high a price as $75,000.

But, once listed for sale, all of a sudden, inquiring minds wanted to know where this Renoir landscape had been since it disappeared in 1951 – before Marcia was even born. 

“It’s been like everyone except for me knows more about this painting than I do,” said Marcia. 

What’s really interesting is that until now no one knew it was Marcia who found this treasure, the long lost “Paysage Bords de Seine,” as the painting is called.  

The identity of the “Renoir girl” was a mystery. 

When the Courts began to disentangle what happened, that’s how our Lovettsville neighbor, Marcia, became known.  Her name was disclosed in pleadings in the federal court case out of the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria.

So how does Marcia feel about all this? 

Marcia said, “It’s not as much fun as when I first discovered what I had.”

Marcia has, as you might expect, been instructed by counsel not to discuss the details of the case. 

Of course, there are some things she can discuss.  “My neighbors joke,” Marcia said, “asking, ‘Do you know, Marcia, where I can find a Picasso?”, and then they laugh.”

On balance, what do you think about what’s going on?  “I said it wasn’t as much fun but the truth is,” Marcia said, “it’s all still very exciting.”