It was Christmas Eve of 2009. Stuart Little was on TV in 1999, and Gergely Barki, an art historian and researcher at Budapest’s Hungarian National Gallery, had settled in with his daughter Lola to watch it. Barki couldn’t believe his eyes as his daughter cuddled up on his lap and laughed at Stuart the mouse’s antics on screen. Barki identified the painting that was hanging on the wall in the background of a scene where Stuart and his human family were having a conversation in front of a fireplace. Not your typical set dressing, this was a long-lost Hungarian masterwork not exhibited to the public since 1928.
“I nearly dropped Lola from my lap,” Barki said. “It was like a miracle of Christmas for me. It seems almost impossible to find a painting hidden in a Hollywood movie.”
Gergely Barki identified the piece as Sleeping Lady with Black Vase by Róbert Berény. One of “the Eight,” a group of cutting-edge artists who revolutionized Hungary’s art movement beginning in 1909, was Berény. In addition to being a significant Hungarian artist, Berény was a colorful character. After creating recruitment posters for an unsuccessful communist revolution, he left Hungary in 1920. Rumors also circulated that he had relationships with Russian Grand Duchess Anastasia and actress Marlene Dietrich.
Berény painted an art deco portrait of his second wife, Sleeping Lady with Black Vase, in 1926. However, it was gone. Actually, Barki’s only visual reference for the painting was a monochrome photo from a 1928 exhibition catalog. He was certain, though, that he had located the missing painting. “I knew I wasn’t dreaming because it was on screen for several scenes in the movie, not just for a single second,” he remarked. Barki needed to find it.
A “Tiny” Issue
The Stuart Little film studios, Columbia Pictures and Sony, were emailed by the art researcher. Although production executives were aware of the painting, they were clueless about its whereabouts after the filming concluded. Consequently, Barki went through the cast and crew list and sent emails to everyone who had any involvement with the film. No one was able to assist. Then, an assistant set director emailed Barki two years after he had first seen Sleeping Lady with Black Vase.
She had been tasked with locating props for the movie and paid $500 at an antique shop in Pasadena, California, for the painting. She brought it home after the film. Barki said, “It was hanging on her bedroom wall in Washington.” “Within a year, I had a chance to visit her and see the painting and tell her everything about the painter. She was very surprised.”
However, how did a masterwork from Hungary wind up in Pasadena?
California To Hungary
When the story broke, Michael Hempstead, the painting’s former owner, recognized his Sleeping Lady. It had been his purchase at a mid-1990s San Diego St. Vincent de Paul charity auction. He remarked, “I think I only paid $40.” Though Hempstead knew it was Berény’s work, he was unaware that it was regarded as lost until he heard that “someone had just donated it, probably with a lot of other items.” The assistant set designer later discovered it at the Pasadena antique shop, where he had resold it for about $400.
Before Hempstead purchased the painting, where had it been? No one is aware. According to Gergely Barki’s estimation, the item was initially acquired by a collector from the 1928 exhibition, as it was shown in the catalog he had seen in the archives. The majority of the buyers were Jewish, so he surmised that it had likely left the country as a result of the war at the time it was last on display. “Many Hungarian masterpieces are lost, scattered around the world, after the wars, revolutions, and tumult of the 20th century.” The precise way the artwork ended up in a Catholic charity auction may never be known.
Returning To The Block
The painting was sold to an art collector for an undisclosed amount by the assistant set designer, who requested to stay anonymous at all times. The painting was taken to a gallery in Budapest and put up for auction on December 13, 2014. The Sleeping Lady with Back Vase sold for $285,700 to an unidentified Hungarian buyer. It had been purchased for $40 in San Diego and $500 in Pasadena.
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Gergely Barki made the decision not to go to the sale. Finding the painting was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that was truly amazing. The thrilling part was that, he remarked. Barki’s excellent vision allowed Sleeping Lady with Black Vase to be saved from obscurity and brought back to Hungary. Barki observed, “Even when watching Christmas movies at home, a researcher can never take his eyes off the job.”
