February 13, 2025

In 2009 while watching “Stewart Little” (1999), Hungarian art historian Gergely Barki saw the painting “Sleeping Lady with Black Vase” by Róbert Berény. 



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It had been missing for 90 years and had been used as a prop. It was the original.


The painting disappeared in the 1920s, but Barki recognised it immediately even though he had only seen a faded black-and-white photo from an exhibition in 1928.


He sent a flurry of emails to staff at the film’s makers, Sony Pictures and Columbia Pictures, and received a reply from a former set designer on the film – two years later.


“She said the picture had been hanging on her wall,” Barki said.



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