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.”
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