Auction of $7 Renoir canceled, may be stolen from Baltimore museum

A Virginia auction house on Thursday canceled the sale of a Renoir painting bought at a flea market for $7 after signs the work was stolen from the Baltimore Museum of Art decades ago.

The painting "Paysage Bords de Seine" by Pierre-Auguste Renoir was to have gone under the hammer on Saturday but ownership questions halted the sale, said Lucie Holland, a spokeswoman for Potomack Co, the Alexandria, Virginia, auctioneer.

"The rest of the auction will go on, but the Renoir has been withdrawn," she said.

A Virginia woman bought the signed French Impressionist painting at a West Virginia flea market a year or two ago, hoping the frame would be of some use.

She ignored the work until it turned up again while housecleaning and had it appraised by Potomack in July. The auctioneers verified it as a Renoir and estimated its worth at $75,000 to $100,000.

The Baltimore Museum of Art told Potomack on Wednesday that its records indicated "Paysage Bords de Seine," or "Landscape on the Banks of the Seine," was stolen while on loan to the museum in 1951, the auction house said.

Potomack told the FBI and a federal probe is under way. There is no known police report on the theft.

BOUGHT IN PARIS

The Renoir came to the Baltimore museum through one of its leading benefactors, collector Saidie May. Her family bought the painting from the Bernheim-Jeune gallery in Paris in 1926.

The Washington Post found records in the museum's library on Tuesday that showed May had lent the paintings and other works to the museum in 1937, Potomack said.

After the newspaper told it of the findings, the Baltimore museum checked its files and found a loan record showing the Renoir had been stolen on November 17, 1951. What happened to it after the theft is unknown.

Doreen Bolger, the museum director, said the museum's probe into what happened to the painting was in early stages but was centered on May.

She died in May 1951 and the art collection was willed to the museum. As its ownership was going through legal transfer, the painting was stolen while still listed as on loan.

"At this point we just want to make sure that the painting winds up where it belongs and that we provide all the information we can to law enforcement about this issue," Bolger said.

Potomack said the painting had not turned up when it checked London's Art Loss Register, a database of stolen and lost art. It also consulted the FBI's art theft website to confirm it was not listed as stolen.

Museums Offer Works for Fall Auctions

Some of the biggest sellers in the upcoming fall auctions in New York are museums. Sotheby's said Thursday that its Nov. 5 sale of Impressionist and modern art will include a trio of works by Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and Pierre-Auguste Renoir that all come from major art institutions.

The Cleveland Museum of Art is asking at least $5 million for Monet's 1881 landscape, "Cornfield," which depicts wildflowers and spindly trees against a wispy, blue sky. This work was originally bought by an American collector shortly after it was painted, and it was first exhibited in New York in 1886. The Ohio museum received it as a gift in 1947.

Washington's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is also selling off Picasso's 1967 portrait, "Musketeer With a Hat," with an asking price of at least $3 million. The museum's namesake founder, Joseph Hirshhorn, bought the artwork in 1970, and it's belonged to the museum since 1981. Picasso's late-era series of musketeers enjoyed a price run-up a few years ago—Christie's got $14.6 million for another 1968 Picasso musketeer three years ago—but this work could offer a fresh test. Dealers say the market has been awash with swashbucklers by Picasso lately, which may explain why the Hirshhorn's 32-inch-tall version carries a much-lower asking price than recent examples at auction.

Sotheby's specialist Simon Shaw says the artist—and his musketeer series—"still feel safe" to buy compared to other lesser-known artists.

The Virginia Museum of Art is also joining in the sell-off, offering up its Renoir still life from 1883-84, "Vase of Roses and Dahlias," for at least $400,000. The museum received the painting as a gift in 1994.

The museums say they're selling the works now to raise cash to buy different pieces.

Maker of Japan's bullet train chosen for US cars

The company that makes Japan's bullet train cars has been selected to manufacture a fleet of next generation passenger cars for Amtrak rail corridors in the Midwest and California.

Illinois, Michigan, Missouri and California are teaming up to buy the 130 bi-level cars for $352 million from a joint venture by Nippon-Sharyo and Sumitomo Corp. of America.

Transportation authorities in Illinois and California said Wednesday that the cars will be produced at a plant operated by Nippon-Sharyo's U.S. subsidiary in Rochelle, Ill., pending an audit to verify that the cars and components will be produced and assembled in the United States.

The first new cars are scheduled for delivery in 2015.

Funding comes from Federal Railroad Administration grants.

NFL, Referees Reach Agreement to End Lockout

The NFL and the NFL Referees Association reached a tentative agreement ending a three-month lockout.

The deal was reached late Wednesday night and the two sides will finalize the paperwork later this morning, a league source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter. Regular union referees will be on the field in Baltimore tonight when the Ravens face the Cleveland Browns.

"Our officials will be back on the field starting tomorrow night," commissioner Roger Goodell said in a joint statement released by the NFL and NFLRA. "We appreciate the commitment of the NFLRA in working through the issues to reach this important agreement."

The new collective bargaining agreement between the two sides is for eight years, according to ESPN. The deal must be ratified by 51 percent of the union's 121 members, according to The Associated Press. They plan to vote Friday and Saturday in Dallas.

Replacement referees worked the first three weeks of the regular season, and were under intense scrutiny from players, fans and coaches. The controversy reached its apex during "Monday Night Football" this week after a blown call on the final play of the fourth quarter cost the Green Bay Packers a win against the Seattle Seahawks.

Packers safety M.D. Jennings had both hands on the ball in the end zone, and when he fell to the ground in a scrum, both Jennings and Seahawks receiver Golden Tate had their arms on the ball. The closest official to the play, at the back of the end zone, signaled for the clock to stop, while another official at the sideline ran in and then signaled touchdown.

The NFL said Tuesday that the touchdown pass should not have been overturned, but acknowledged that Tate should have been called for offensive pass interference before the catch.

On Sunday, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was fined $50,000 for grabbing a replacement referee's arm when he asked for an explanation on a call after his team lost to the Ravens in Baltimore. Belichick later apologized for his actions.

The fury over the replacement refs made it all the way to the White House, with President Obama tweeting earlier this week, "NFL fans on both sides of the aisle hope the refs' lockout is settled soon."

The NFLRA were seeking improved salaries and retirement benefits in their negotiations with the NFL during the lockout.

According to the joint statement released by the NFL and NFLRA Wednesday night, retirement benefits will be provided for new hires, and for all officials beginning in 2017, through a defined contribution arrangement. An annual league contribution made on behalf of each game official that will begin with an average of more than $18,000 per official and increase to more than $23,000 per official in 2019, and a partial match on any additional contribution that an official makes to his 401(k) account.

Apart from their benefit package, the game officials' compensation will increase from an average of $149,000 a year in 2011 to $173,000 in 2013, rising to $205,000 by 2019.

Assange mocks Obama via video at U.N. event

Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy since June to avoid extradition, made the comments at a packed event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

Assange mocked Obama for defending free speech in the Arab world in an address to the United Nations on Tuesday, pointing to his own experience as evidence that Obama has "done more to criminalize free speech than any other U.S. president."

"It must have come as a surprise to the Egyptian teenagers who washed American teargas out of their eyes (during the Arab Spring) to hear that the U.S. supported change in the Middle East," Assange said.

"It's time for President Obama to keep his word ... and for the U.S. to cease its persecution of WikiLeaks," he said.

Assange's combative comments, plus statements made by Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino and his other allies at the event, suggested no solution is in sight to the diplomatic standoff surrounding the 41-year-old Australian.

British authorities have surrounded the Ecuadorean Embassy and said if Assange sets foot outside, they will arrest him and extradite him to Sweden to face rape and sexual assault allegations.

Assange's lawyers and Ecuador's government fear that could lead in turn to extradition to the United States, where they say he would face "inhumane" prison conditions and even the death penalty.

Assange, who looked to be in good health as he sat at a desk in front of a bookshelf and addressed the 150 or so people at the event, said Britain and Sweden have so far refused to provide guarantees he would not be extradited to the United States.

U.S. and European government sources have countered that the United States has issued no criminal charges or launched any attempts to extradite Assange.

IN BRITAIN'S COURT

Patino is scheduled to meet with British Foreign Secretary William Hague in New York on Thursday to discuss Assange, and he said there are "multiple paths" that could lead out of the standoff. Yet, in an interview with Reuters following the U.N. event, Patino made clear that Ecuador is not willing to cede much ground.

"The ball's in their court right now," Patino said.

Patino held in his hands a mimeographed copy of an 1880 agreement signed between Britain and Ecuador, which he said prohibits extradition in cases such as Assange's. He said he would show the document to Hague on Thursday.

Patino rigorously defended Ecuador's decision to grant political asylum to Assange, expressing disbelief that Britain is "determined" to arrest the former computer hacker even though he said there are no criminal charges against him. "This means you have reason to suspect he's being persecuted," Patino said.

He said Assange is in relatively good spirits but expressed concern his physical and psychological condition could deteriorate.

"I think of myself, how I'd react in that situation, not being able to go outside, being isolated," Patino said. "It's practically like being jailed."