Police locates stolen painting, 60 years after the theft was reported

A theft report dating back 60 years was located by the police. This theft was of a Renoir painting that disappeared from the Baltimore Museum of Art and came back into limelight after its description matched a painting that was recently sold at the flea market for $7. Uncovering the report dating November 17, 1951 the Baltimore police said it now has a strong case to retrieve the lost painting. Also confirming the theft was the museum that said it found the thefts record in its library.

According to the police reports, there was no forced entry into the museum and the value of the painting then was $2,500. Also in the brief police report was a statement by an executive assistant at the museum, James N. Foster Jr. that says, “some time between 6 p. m. Nov. 16 and 1 p. m. this date (Nov. 17) someone stole the following painting." The reports further notes that “On the Shore of the Seine”, the 5 by 9 inch piece was painted by Pierre-Auguste Renoir and describes the painting as a river scene in pink and blue. However no other items were stolen.

The said painting was bought by a woman at a flea market in West Virginia in 2010. She kept the painting in storage for two years not knowing if it was indeed real. She later had it examined by an auction house which confirmed of its originality as a Renoir’s ‘Paysage Bords de Seine’. The painting was to be sold at an auction and would have fetched her a minimum $75,000 but with the location of the theft the auction was put off