US News

$50M art stolen 44 years ago found in innocent man’s home

Two stolen paintings worth $50 million were recovered from the home of an Italian autoworker — who bought the masterpieces for $100 and hung them in his kitchen for nearly 40 years, unaware of their value.

The unnamed Fiat employee, described by cops as a “lover of art,” bought Paul Gaugin’s “Still Life of Fruit on a Table With a Small Dog” and Pierre Bonnard’s “The Girl With Two Chairs” in a 1975 auction of items from a train station’s lost and found.

The works had been stolen from the home of a British aristocrat in 1970. They were later left behind on a train from Paris-to-Turin, the head of the Italian police’s Cultural Heritage department said.

Paul Gaugin’s “Still Life of Fruit on a Table With a Small Dog”AP

The clueless car-factory employee had no inkling the paintings were masterpieces — and bought them because he just thought they were pretty.

After the worker retired, his son decided to have the paintings evaluated by an art expert, who realized that the “Still Life” was likely a work by Gauguin, a leading French Post-Impressionist.

The police became involved when it was concluded that both of the works had been stolen in England four decades earlier.

The auto man is not facing arrest because he bought the works at a legitimate sale.

“The present owner of the paintings was circulating pictures of the painting because he decided to sell them. He did so in good faith, as he did not know they were stolen,” the spokesman for the Art Theft Squad of the Italian police said.

Pierre Bonnard’s “The Girl With Two Chairs”Getty Images

The paintings were stolen from the collection of Sir Mark Kennedy in England on June 6, 1970. Kennedy and his wife died without heirs and without knowing the fate of their paintings.

Press reports from the time say that three men, one posing as a police officer and the others as burglar alarm engineers, duped the housekeeper by telling her they were checking the alarm system. While she made them a cup of tea, they removed the paintings from their frames.

Authorities will now have to determine the rightful owner of the paintings, which will remain in the custody of the art squad because cops have yet to receive an official notice they are stolen.

Art experts believe the Gaugin is much more valuable than the Bonnard and could fetch as much as $40 million at auction.

Chris Marinello of Art Recovery International said there could be a battle for ownership of the works because the autoworker could have a right to them under Italian law if he could prove he bought them in good faith.