Long-lost painting found in country house: auctioneer

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2008

LONDON (AFP) — A painting by French artist Jean-Antoine Watteau, missing for 200 years, has been found in a country house and could now sell for up to five million pounds, auctioneers said Tuesday.

"La Surprise", painted around 1718, was known only through a copy in the collection at Buckingham Palace in London before the original was found during a valuation last year, said Christie's auction house in London.

The oil painting shows an actor playing a guitar on a stone bench looking across at a couple locked in an amorous embrace. The action is watched by a small dog in the corner.

"We are extremely excited to have rediscovered Watteau's 'La Surprise', whose whereabouts have been a mystery for almost 200 years," said Richard Knight and Paul Raison, directors...