 For 40 years, the framed painting hung in the kitchen of an unassuming Italian auto worker. Perhaps he thought the kitchen a fitting place for the depiction of white bowls brimming with colorful, luscious fruit. He never knew the name of the painter, Paul Gauguin. And he never knew the painting he bought at an Italian Railways auction of abandoned items was actually a stolen work of fine art. On Wednesday, Italian police unveiled the work, along with another painting by lesser known French artist Pierre Bonnard, both purchased in 1975 for about $100, according to Maj. Massimiliano Quagliarella of Italy’s Carabinieri art theft squad. “The painting, showing fruit, seemed to fit in with dining room decor,” he said. Both artworks were left hanging in the unidentified Fiat worker’s home in Turin, and later in Sicily, after the man retired. Italian authoritites estimated their worth at between $14 million and $40 million. The miraculous find is a decades-long story that sounds like an urban legend.  A Fiat worker in Turin, who has a soft spot for paintings, goes to railroad auction of unclaimed items left onboard trains. He buys two pieces that speak to him, forking over the lira equivalent of about $100. Both had been stolen in 1970 from the home of a British collector by men posing as police and burglar arm mechanics. While the cook fetched them tea, they cut the paintings from their frames and beat a hasty retreat. Italian authorities said Wednesday that it appears the artwork made it onto a Paris-to-Turin train, but were abandoned. Rail employees put the items in the lost and found. Then came the auction. The Gauguin is titled “Fruit on a Table with a Small Dog,” and bears the number “89” at the bottom, ostensibly for the year 1889, officials in Rome said Wednesday. The Bonnard, who was considered a premier colorist in Paris, is called “Woman with Two Armchairs” and depicts an outdoor setting with a female lounging in a chair. The auto worker’s son contacted an art worker to evaluate the paintings after his father died. The expert concluded the fruit scene was like a Gauguin and contacted Italy’s art theft division. Italian Culture Minister Dario Francheshini said the find was “extraordinary.” But one problems remains: the original owners are dead and had no heirs. Authorities are trying to figure out who should get the artworks. |
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