The_Surprise_(Watteau)
The Surprise (Watteau)
Painting by Antoine Watteau
The Surprise (La Surprise) is an oil on panel painting by the French Rococo artist Antoine Watteau, created c. 1718, now held in the J. Paul Getty Museum, in Los Angeles. The painting depicts showing a male guitarist, dressed as Mezzetino, watching an embracing couple embrace, with a small dog watching the whole scene; it notably exhibits Watteau's use of recurrent figures, as well as the influence of Flemish Baroque painting on his art.
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The Surprise was a pendant to Perfect Harmony, now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; both works were originally owned by Watteau's friend Nicolas Hénin, but they were sold separately by his heir, who published an engraving of both works. Surprise then disappeared between 1770 and 1848 and again between 1848 and 2007. The original was rediscovered in March 2008 in a British country house and had been in that family's collection since 1848. It was sold for 15 million Euros at Christie's in London on 8 July 2008.