Art historian spots missing Robert Bereny painting in Stuart Little movie
An avant-garde masterpiece missing for nine decades has returned home to Hungary courtesy of a sharp-eyed art historian who spotted it being used as a prop in the Hollywood film Stuart Little.
An avant-garde masterpiece missing for nine decades has returned home to Hungary courtesy of a sharp-eyed art historian who spotted it being used as a prop in the Hollywood film Stuart Little.
Gergely Barki, a researcher at Hungary's National Gallery, noticed Sleeping Lady with Black Vase by Robert Bereny (1888-1953) while watching the 1999 movie about a mouse with his daughter Lola in 2009.
"I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Bereny's long lost masterpiece on the wall behind Hugh Laurie, I nearly dropped Lola from my lap," Barki, 43, said .
"A researcher can never take his eyes off the job, even when watching Christmas movies at home."
The painting disappeared in the 1920s. Barki recognised it immediately, even though he had only seen a faded black-and-white photo dating from a 1928 exhibition archived in the National Gallery.
Barki emailed staff at the film's makers, Sony Pictures and Columbia Pictures, and received a reply from a former Sony set designer two years later.
"She said the picture was hanging on her wall," Barki said.