A dumped painting worth more than £500,000 was discovered four years ago on New York’s West side by a lady on her morning stroll. Not an art buff but shocked by its neglect, she immediately adopted it.

The painting turned out to be a stolen piece by Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo – Tres Personajes – nicked some 20 years earlier from a Houston couple.

The mystery of why and how it got snatched and later pitched was never cleared up but the story has a happy ending. Sotheby’s sold the painting for over $1million and the lady who adopted it bagged a reward of $15,000.

The moral of the story: always keep your eyes peeled for stolen Mexican art when you’re out and about.

(Image: from Mike Schmid’s flickr stream)