A painting by the Hungarian avante-garde artist Róbert Berény has finally been returned to Hungary after being spotted in the background of a children's movie.

Gergely Barki, who works in the national gallery in Budapest, was watching Stuart little with his daughter Lola in 2009 when something familiar caught his eye. 

Speaking to the Guardian, he said:

"I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Bereny’s long-lost masterpiece on the wall behind Hugh Laurie. I nearly dropped Lola from my lap. A researcher can never take his eyes off the job, even when watching Christmas movies at home."

Though he had only ever seen Sleeping Lady with Black Vase in a black and white photo taken almost 90 years ago, Barki immediately recognised it and began trying to contact the film's producers.

Two years later, he finally received a reply from a former set designer, who had picked up the paintnig for cheap in a Californian antiques shop.

She later sold it to a private collector, who now plans to auction it in Budapest on December 13, with a starting price of €110,000.

The piece disappeared during the 1920s, when it was likely bought by a Jewish man who fled the country before or during the war years.

Berény was a member of a group called the Eight, who introduced cubism and expressionism to Hungary prior to the First World War.