Flea market Renoir for $7? Yup, it was stolen

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A Virginia woman who bought a tiny painting by French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir at a flea market for just $7, and who had hoped to sell the work at auction for at least $75,000, has been told she has to give it back.

A federal judge ruled Friday that the napkin-sized painting by the French impressionist should be returned to the Baltimore museum from which it was stolen decades ago.

Judge Leonie Brinkema rejected a claim of ownership from Marcia "Martha" Fuqua, who said she bought the painting at a flea market in Harpers Ferry, W. Va., in 2009. The judge said there's overwhelming evidence that the Renoir was stolen from the Baltimore Museum of Art in 1951.

The judge told attorneys she'd make arrangements to have the painting returned, but didn't set a date.

Fuqua, who was not at Friday's hearing, had intended to sell the painting at auction in 2012, but the sale was canceled after the museum said the painting was stolen and the FBI then seized it.

Fuqua described herself as an "innocent buyer" and questioned the FBI's authority to seize the piece. Fuqua's story has since been contradicted by others.

"Because I am not an art historian, collector, appraiser, or dealer, I lacked the expertise to identify the Renoir Painting's authenticity, origins or previous ownership history," she wrote.

According to an appraisal commissioned by the FBI, 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.

The appraiser said the Renoir's value is about $22,000, much less than the auction house estimated, because Renoir's paintings have fallen out of favor with some art collectors who consider them old fashioned and because questions about the painting's ownership and possible theft diminish its value to collectors.