In 1999, Stuart Little hit theaters. It was a perfectly pleasant family film about a mouse, voiced by Michael J. Fox, living with a human family. It even had M. Night Shyamalan as a co-writer, back when his twists were still a delightful surprise, not a brand. It did fine, but lost an Oscar to The Matrix and got overshadowed by Star Wars: Episode I and Toy Story 2. A respectable showing, nothing more.
Then, a decade later, Stuart Little made headlines for something entirely unexpected: it helped solve a nearly century-old art mystery. Because apparently, even fictional mouse homes can hide masterpieces.
The Case of the Vanishing Lady
The painting in question was Sleeping Lady with Black Vase, an Art Deco portrait by Hungarian artist Róbert Berény. Painted in the late 1920s, it captured his second wife, Eta, in a moment of elegant repose. It was exhibited in Budapest in 1928, and then… poof. Vanished.
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Start Your News DetoxArt historians believed a Jewish collector likely purchased it and then, with the terrifying rise of World War II, fled Hungary, leaving the painting to disappear into the chaos. For decades, it was known only through old photographs, presumed lost forever. A ghost of a painting.
The Christmas Eve Revelation
Fast forward to Christmas Eve, 2009. Art historian Gergely Barki was doing what many of us do: watching Stuart Little with his daughter. Less than 20 minutes in, as the camera panned across the Little family's cozy living room, Barki saw it. Hanging above the fireplace, as if it belonged there, was Berény's missing masterpiece.
Barki later recalled he "nearly dropped Lola from my lap." Because a true art historian, it seems, is always on the job, even when a talking mouse is trying to adopt a family. He immediately embarked on a two-year quest, emailing production companies, then cast and crew members, until a set designer finally responded. She had the painting. In her bedroom.
Turns out, she’d bought it for a mere $500 at an antique shop in Pasadena, California, completely unaware it was a long-lost treasure. It was used as a prop in Stuart Little, and before that, even appeared on the TV show Family Law. She liked it so much, she bought it from Sony Pictures after filming wrapped. Before her, another owner had snagged it for $40 at a charity auction. The painting had quite the unassuming journey from Budapest to Hollywood bargain bin.
Barki flew from Hungary to Washington, D.C., to authenticate the painting. The set designer sold it to a collector, who then put it up for auction in Hungary in 2014. The story of its cinematic discovery made it an instant sensation, driving the price to a staggering 229,500 euros (about $285,700).
Hugh Laurie, who played Frederick Little in the film, summed it up perfectly, tweeting, "Little hurt to discover the foreground performances couldn’t hold the attention, but still, what an honor…" Yes, Hugh, sometimes the decor just steals the show. And sometimes, a mouse movie helps find a piece of history. You never know where art will turn up next. Probably not in Stuart Little 2, but one can dream.
