Nicolae Grigorescu painting undervalued at 3.5 lei in Romania

A painting titled ‘Peisaj’ by renowned artist Nicolae Grigorescu was recorded in accounting records at a value of only 3.5 lei, according to findings by Prahova Court of Accounts auditors. The artwork is held at the ‘Ion Ionescu-Quintus’ Prahova County Museum of Art.

Romanian Minister of Culture Ioana Ciocan described the valuation as a human error resulting from a mistake made during a 2005 revaluation process, where zeros were inadvertently removed from the figure. She noted that the painting had previously been valued at 35,000 lei during the Ceaușescu era.

Ciocan attributed the discrepancy to limited resources and technical errors, suggesting that staff working with outdated equipment may have misplaced a decimal point. She stated that the error will be corrected and expressed intention to suggest the painting be put on display.