Stolen Art DealerAn actor dressed as Mezzetin sits on a stone outcrop in a garden at the end of the day, tuning a guitar beside an embracing couple, while a small dog watches.
Tap to zoom
Catalogue No. 1830 · Christie's · London
La Surprise
About $37.3 million in today’s money: 430 years of the typical US household’s income. Source
- Artist
- Jean-Antoine Watteau (French, 1684-1721)
- Title
- La Surprise
- Date
- c. 1718
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Size
- 36.3 x 28.2 cm (14 1/2 x 11 1/2 in.)
Watteau painted La Surprise around 1718, in oil on a small panel measuring 36.3 by 28.2 centimetres. In a garden at dusk, an actor in the costume of Mezzetin tunes a guitar while seated on a rock. An embracing couple is beside him, and a small dog looks on.
The provenance begins in Paris with Nicolas Hénin, followed by Jean de Jullienne by 1731 and Ange-Laurent de la Live de Jully by 1764. A sale planned for April 1792, in which the picture was lot 51, was cancelled, and it went by private sale to M. Robit. At the Paillet sale in Paris in May 1801 it fetched 411 francs, bought by M. vandewalle. By 1848 it belonged to Lady Murray, and it passed by inheritance to the owners who held it in 2008.
Christie's sold the panel in London on 8 July 2008 as lot 21. The price was £12,361,250, or $24.4 million with buyer's premium, against an estimate of £3 million to £5 million. Christie's says no French Old Master painting had fetched more at auction.
The sale
- Auction house
- Christie's, London
- Date
- 8 July 2008
- Lot
- 21
- Estimate
- £3,000,000-5,000,000
- Sold for
- $24.4 million (including buyer’s premium) · £12,361,250
- Record
- World auction record for any French Old Master painting at the time of sale (Christie's says so) (as of July 2008)
Test your eye on the market: set your estimates
Provenance
undated
Nicolas Hénin (1691-1724), Paris
by 1731
Jean de Jullienne (1686-1766), Paris, by 1731
by 1764
Ange-Laurent de la Live de Jully (1725-1779), Paris, by 1764
1792-04
François-Michel Harenc de Presle, Paris (1710-1802); his sale, Le Brun, Paris 16-24 April, 1792, lot 51; auction cancelled; private sale to M. Robit
1801-05-11
Citoyen M. Robit; sale, Paillet, Paris, 11-18 May 1801, lot 165 (411 francs to M. vandewalle)
by 1848
Lady Murray, by 1848, and by inheritance to the present owners
Sources
- Christie's lot page: Watteau, La Surprise (lot 5101828)
- Christie's lot page (christies.com.cn mirror): lot number, sale title
- Christie's press release, 8 July 2008: Rediscovered Watteau masterpiece sells for record £12.4 million
Prices include the buyer’s premium, in US dollars at the time of sale, unless marked as a hammer price.