Art historian finds long-lost Hungarian painting in children’s movie ‘Stuart Little’

When art historian Gergely Barki sat down to watch the 1999 children’s movie Stuart Little on television with his daughter in the winter of 2009, he didn’t expect to find a long-lost masterpiece.

But there it was on the wall behind the actors: Robert Bereny’s “Sleeping Lady with Black Vase,” an avant-garde work of art that had been missing for decades.

“I went to the television and tried to clean the windscreen. Is it real?” Barki said in an interview with ABC News.

"I knew this painting only from a black-and-white photograph," Barki told As It Happens host Carol Off. “[Seeing it in Stuart Little] was the first time I saw the painting in colour. It was really shocking.”

Bereny, known for cubism and expressionism, was considered one of the leading artists in early-1900s Hungary. Barki believes the painting went missing when its last-known buyer, who purchased it at an exhibition in 1928, left Hungary before or during the second world war.

“After the wars, revolutions and tumult of the 20th century, many Hungarian masterpieces are lost, scattered around the world,” he said.

Almost immediately after spotting the painting on his television screen, Barki started contacting everyone involved with the film’s production, sending inquiries to the studio and set designer. Most of the people he contacted remembered the painting, but had no idea where it ended up.

"Finally, a month later, I received an email from the assistant of the set designer saying, ‘Hi Greg, I have the painting in my bedroom.’ It was a really lucky moment,” he said.

The assistant set designer told Berki that she originally purchased the painting for the film “for next to nothing” at a Pasadena antique shop. After production wrapped, she bought it back from the studio for $500.

The woman later sold the Hungarian painting to a private dealer who is now selling it at auction in Budapest. The starting bid is about $150,000 Canadian dollars, CBC News reported. The estimated sales price is more than double that.

"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 told the Guardian, referring to his daughter whom he was watching the movie with.

"A researcher can never take his eyes off the job, even when watching Christmas movies at home."