This file image released by Potomack Company shows an apparently original painting by French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir that was acquired by a woman from Virginia who stopped at a flea market in West Virginia and paid $7 for a box of trinkets that included the painting.ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The story began with one of those improbable tales of an artistic masterpiece uncovered at a flea market. It concluded Friday, the painting still a masterpiece but the story about the flea market all the more improbable.
A federal judge 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 only 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.