ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A federal judge on Friday awarded
ownership of a disputed Renoir painting to a Baltimore museum, citing
"overwhelming evidence" that the painting had been stolen from the
museum more than 60 years ago.
The judge’s decision rejected the
claims of a Virginia woman, Marcia "Martha" Fuqua, who maintained that
she bought the painting at a flea market for $7, even as others,
including her own brother, disputed her story.
In making her
ruling Friday, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema did not pass judgment
of the truthfulness of Fuqua’s story. The judge said merely that
because the museum had shown the painting was stolen, it didn’t matter
how Fuqua acquired it — she could not legally gain possession of stolen
property even if she acted in good faith.
Fuqua did not attend the hearing. Her lawyer, Wayne Biggs, declined to comment on whether he would
appeal.
The
napkin-sized painting made news in 2012 when an auction company
announced plans to sell it on behalf of an anonymous woman dubbed
"Renoir girl" who said she bought the painting at a West Virginia flea
market in 2009 for $7. The woman said she did not know the painting was a
Renoir when she bought it, even though it was held in a frame with a
"RENOIR" panel attached.
The auction company had expected to fetch
at least $75,000, but the auction was canceled when the museum came
forward with long-forgotten records showing the painting had been stolen
in 1951.
As it turned out, Fuqua’s mother, who used the name
Marcia Fouquet, was an artist who specialized in reproducing paintings
from Renoir and other masters, and who had extensive links to
Baltimore’s art community in the 1950s.
In addition, Fuqua’s
brother, Owen "Matt" Fuqua, told a Washington Post reporter that he had
seen the painting in the family home numerous times, well before his
sister supposedly bought it in 2009, though Matt Fuqua changed his story
several times subsequently.
The FBI seized the painting in October 2012 and has been keeping it while the courts sorted through the
ownership claims.
After Friday’s hearing, Matt Fuqua said he was glad the museum is getting the painting and called his
sister a liar.
"I’m ecstatic because the truth came out," he said.
He said a deposition he gave to lawyers supporting his sister’s version of events was a lie.
"At the time, I was trying to protect her," he said.
Matt Fuqua said after the hearing that he suspects somebody gave the painting to his mother.
"She was beautiful back in the day," he said of his mother, who died recently. "She had a
lot of suitors."
Matt Fuqua said he asked his mother many times about the painting’s origins, but she wouldn’t say.
"It was secretive, and I wasn’t very good at keeping secrets," Matt Fuqua said.
Martha
Fuqua maintained throughout the case that she bought the painting at a
flea market and gave a sworn statement under penalty of perjury as part
of the court case. Her lawyer tried to argue that the museum’s claims
were inadmissible because the documents were so old that nobody could
attest to their accuracy.
But Brinkema said the museum’s documentation was legitimate.
"All of the evidence is on the Baltimore museum’s side. None of the evidence is on your side,"
Brinkema told Biggs.
Anne
Mannix-Brown, spokeswoman for the Baltimore Museum of Art, said the
museum hopes to have a special unveiling of the painting some time by
the end of March. It will be the 47th Renoir in the museum’s collection.
Renoir
painted "Paysage bords de Seine," or On the Shore of the Seine, on a
linen napkin in 1879 on the spot at a riverside restaurant for his
mistress, according to an FBI appraisal of the work.
The appraiser
estimated its value at about $22,000, much lower than the auction house
believed, in part because the appraiser said Renoir’s paintings have
fallen out of favor with some art collectors who consider them old
fashioned.
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