The recovered Pierre-Auguste Renoir painting

A work by the French impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir that was stolen 15 years ago in Rome has turned up in Venice, police said.

A resident of the city of Treviso, north of Venice, said he bought the painting, which depicts a rare mythical scene and is dated 1895, at a rummage sale.

But when the man was unable to prove his claim, police seized the painting.

"We carried out all verifications, with the help of Interpol and French and British police, and established that the painting - which depicts a mythical scene - belonged to a Roman family from whom it was stolen in 1984," a police spokesman told AFP.

Captain Salvatore Di Stefano, another police spokesman, said: "We don't know the value but it must be pretty high because Renoir did not paint that many mythical scenes."

Renoir, who died in 1919, is known for his lively scenes of Paris life.

In September 2008, police in Italy, acting on a tip from an art critic, recovered a Renoir nude stolen 33 years earlier from a private collection in Milan. Three suspects were arrested.