At Sotheby's found a stolen Degas

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stolen from a museum in Le Havre in 1973, Degas painting was offered for sale by auction house Sotheby's

Missing pictures always eventually float to the surface. Usually they are trying to sell illegally, much less their quietly put up for sale in the auction halls.

Yesterday the firm Sotheby's in New York held for sale of Impressionist. As usual, on this occasion was published a catalog with reproductions of all works put up for sale. At number 142 in the catalog has been reproduced painting by Edgar Degas titled "washerwoman with diseased teeth." This is a picture of a small format, 16 x 21 cm, dated to 1870-72 years., With a preliminary estimate of 350,000 - 450,000 euros.

Leafing through the catalog, a lover of painting from Le Havre recognized that work stolen from gavrskogo museum in 1973 and told about the Ministry of Culture of France, which in turn appealed to Sotheby's. The painting was immediately withdrawn from the auction.

Degas' work was transferred to Gavrsky Museum deposited in the 1960 database is a collection Orsay Museum contains a complete history of this work.
Some regulars auction halls surprised that Art loss register, organization, based in London and dedicated to taking into account the stolen works, not reacted to the emergence of patterns of such well-known artist. Not been included this work in the Interpol database.

In principle, France has irrefutable proof of origin of this picture, should be easy enough to get her back. If it had been discovered in France, the museum could get it back without paying any compensation to its current owner. However, due to lack of agreements with the United States, the museum will have to enter into negotiations with the owner who, apparently, in no wrongdoing did not participate.

Le Figaro, 04.11.2010
Dominique SMI