In December 2009, Hungarian art historian Gargely Barki, who works at the National Museum in Budapest, let his 9-year-old daughter Lola talk him into watching the film together. Although the girl was completely absorbed in the story of the charming mouse, he couldn’t focus on the plot of the production aimed mainly at the youngest. Until. At some point, he noticed a painting above the fireplace in the main characters’ house that seemed extremely familiar to him, and it was this that caught his attention. After a moment of analyzing the details, he was almost certain that he had made a discovery that would move the whole world.
After the exhibition, Bereny’s painting disappeared without a trace. It was found on the set of “Stuart Little”
Barki immediately realized that the work he saw in the film made almost a decade earlier was the undoing of Robert Bereny, the internationally acclaimed Hungarian impressionist. “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Bereny’s lost masterpiece on the wall behind Hugh Laurie,” he told The Guardian, adding that he almost dropped his daughter in amazement. He assumed it was “Sleeping Woman and Black Vase,” which was publicly shown for the first and last time at an exhibition in 1928.
It was then that the black and white photo was taken, which the historian associated with the museum archive. The problem is that since then the painter’s work has been considered lost. All we know is that it was sold, but there was no information about the new owner in any official registers. There were even rumors that it had been destroyed during World War II, but there was no evidence. The historian intended to verify this as soon as possible.
The set designer of the cult cartoon bought the lost work in an antique shop. She had no idea how valuable it was
Almost immediately, Baraki started all contacts to get information about this unique prop from “Stuart Little”. He wrote a dozen, if not dozens, letters and e-mails to everyone involved in the creation of the film: from the actors and director, through producers from Sony and Columbia Pictures, to the lighting technicians. However, the answer did not come immediately, because he had to wait as long as 2 years.
It was then that news of the sought-after painting reached the assistant set designer of the cartoon, who decided to respond to the historian’s appeals and revealed how she had come into possession of the work. She admitted that she had bought it many years earlier in a local antique shop in Pasadena, California, for about $500. At the time, she had no idea that she had thus become the owner of such a painting, and one that had been missing for almost nine decades. Ultimately, Sony Pictures decided to sell “Sleeping Woman and the Black Vase” to a private collector, thanks to whom Bereny’s work was returned to Budapest and put up for auction. If you’d like, please vote in our poll below.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
