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The Surprise (Watteau)

{{short description|Painting by Antoine Watteau}}

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{{Expand French|topic=cult|La Surprise (Watteau)|date=July 2018}}

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File:Jean-Antoine_Watteau_La_Surprise,_oil_on_panel.jpg

The Surprise ({{lang|fr|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.

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.

Origin

L'Accord Parfait is in the museum in Los Angeles, but the Surprise has had several owners over the years and was last referenced in 1764 in the catalog of a collector who claimed to be its owner, the photo was known only from the picture and a copy which appeared in the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace in London.

The original was rediscovered in March 2008, in the corner of a room in the country house of a British family, by an expert who came to appraise another work there.{{cite web|title=Times Online - £5m surprise as lost Jean-Antoine Watteau masterpiece reappears|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article3613925.ece|language=en|date=March 25, 2008|access-date=2008-12-20}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} According to this expert, the painting had been in this family since 1848, who were unaware of its importance and value.{{cite web|title=Suissinfo.org - Grande-Bretagne : record aux enchères pour "La Surprise" de Watteau|url=http://www.swissinfo.org/fre/infos/nouvelles_agence/international/Grande_Bretagne_record_aux_encheres_pour_La_Surprise_de_Watteau.html?siteSect=143&sid=9311471&cKey=1215568274000&ty=ti&positionT=15|language=fr|date=July 9, 2008|access-date=2008-12-20}} Sold at auction on July 8, 2008, by Christie's in London, the Surprise reached a value of 15 million euros.{{cite web|title=Uol ùltimas notícias - Um Watteau sumido há 160 anos vendido a preço recorde em leilão em Londres|url=http://noticias.uol.com.br/ultnot/economia/2008/07/08/ult35u60723.jhtm|language=pt|date=July 8, 2008|access-date=2008-12-20}}

Further reading

  • {{Cite book|last=Adhémar|first=Hélène|title=Watteau; sa vie, son oeuvre|others=Includes "L’univers de Watteau", an introduction by René Huyghe|publisher=P. Tisné|year=1950|language=fr|location=Paris|at=pp. 45-47, 56, 147, 185, 223, cat. no. 167|oclc=853537}}
  • {{Cite book|title=Watteau, Music, and Theater|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ldeVkR1U0cC|publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art|others=Rosenberg, Pierre (an introduction by); Cowart, Georgia J. (an essay by)|year=2009|isbn=978-1-58839-335-7|editor-last=Baetjer|editor-first=Katharine|location=New York|at=pp. 42-44, cat. no. 11}}
  • {{Cite book|last=Banks|first=Oliver T.|title=Watteau and the North: Studies in the Dutch and Flemish Baroque Influence on French Rococo Painting|publisher=Garland|year=1977|location=New York, London|at=pp. 223-226|oclc=1075255658}}
  • {{Cite book |last=Beeny |first=Emily A. |title=Watteau at Work: La Surprise |last2=Gasparotto |first2=Davide |last3=Rand |first3=Richard |date=2021 |publisher=Getty Publications |isbn=978-1-60606735-2 |editor-last=J. Paul Getty Museum |editor-first=Los Angeles, CA |editor-link=J. Paul Getty Museum |location=Los Angeles, CA |type=exhibition catalogue}}
  • {{Cite book|title=Antoine Watteau, 1684-1721|series=Meister der französischen Kunst|last=Börsch-Supan|first=Helmut|author-link=:de:Helmut Börsch-Supan|publisher=Könemann|year=2000|isbn=3-8290-1630-1|location=Köln|at=p. 59, ill. 49|language=de|oclc=925262301}}
  • {{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/completepainting0000watt/page/112|title=The Complete Painting of Watteau|publisher=Harry N. Abrams|others=Introduction by John Sutherland|year=1971|isbn=0810955253|last=Camesasca|first=Ettore|author-link=:pt:Ettore Camesasca|series=Classics of the World's Great Art|location=New York|at=p. [https://archive.org/details/completepainting0000watt/page/112 112], cat. no. 144|url-access=registration|via=the Internet Archive|oclc=143069}}
  • {{cite book|first1=Émile|last1=Dacier|first2=Albert|last2=Vuaflart|title=Jean de Julienne et les graveurs de Watteau au XVIII-e siècle. III. Catalogue|date=1922|location=Paris|language=fr|publisher=M. Rousseau|doi=10.11588/DIGLIT.41977 |url=http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/dacier1922bd3|oclc=1039156495|at=pp. 20-21, no. 31}}
  • {{cite book|last=Glorieux|first=Guillaume|title=Watteau|language=fr|location=Paris|publisher=Citadelles & Mazenod|date=2011|series=Collection Les Phares|at=p. 204|isbn=9782850883408|oclc=711039378}}
  • {{Cite book|title=Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, dessiné et gravé d'Antoine Watteau|url=https://archive.org/details/catalogueraisonn00gonc_0|last=Goncourt|first=Edmond de|publisher=Rapilly|year=1875|location=Paris|at=p. 148, no. 167|oclc=1041772738|author-link=Edmond de Goncourt|via=the Internet Archive}}
  • {{cite book|last1=Grasselli|first1=Margaret Morgan|last2=Rosenberg|first2=Pierre|author2-link=Pierre Rosenberg|last3=Parmantier|first3=Nicole|display-authors=etal|title=Watteau, 1684-1721|type=exhibition catalogue|publisher=National Gallery of Art|location=Washington|year=1984|via=the National Gallery of Art archive|url=https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/watteau-1684-1721.pdf|isbn=0-89468-074-9|oclc=557740787}}
  • {{cite book|last=Mathey|first=Jacques|title=Antoine Watteau. Peintures réapparues inconnues ou négligées par les historiens|location=Paris|publisher=F. de Nobele|year=1959|language=fr|page=68|oclc=954214682}}
  • {{Cite book|last=Michel|first=Christian|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nm3WpbfjmlgC|title=Le "célèbre Watteau"|publisher=Droz|year=2008|isbn=978-2-600-01176-1|location=Genève|oclc=1158803919|pages=76, 118, 183, 211 n. 51}}
  • {{cite book|title=Antoine Watteau: catalogue complet de son oeuvre dessiné|last1=Parker|first1=Karl T.|author-link=Karl Parker|last2=Mathey|first2=Jacques|name-list-style=amp|location=Paris|publisher=F. de Nobèle|date=1957–1958|at=vol. 1, p. 42, under no. 279; vol. 2, p. 359, under no. 839|oclc=2039948}}
  • {{Cite book|last=Parker|first=Karl T.|url=https://archive.org/details/drawingsofantoin0000watt|title=The Drawings of Antoine Watteau|publisher=Hacker Art Books|year=1970|orig-year=1931|isbn=0-87817-050-2|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/drawingsofantoin0000watt/page/25/mode/1up 25], [https://archive.org/details/drawingsofantoin0000watt/page/37/mode/1up 37]|oclc=680613312|url-access=registration|via=the Internet Archive}}
  • {{cite book|last=Posner|first=Donald|title=Antoine Watteau|url=https://archive.org/details/antoinewatteau0000posn|url-access=registration|year=1984|location=London|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|at=pp. [https://archive.org/details/antoinewatteau0000posn/page/69 69], [https://archive.org/details/antoinewatteau0000posn/page/169 169]|isbn=0-8014-1571-3|oclc=10736607|via=the Internet Archive}}
  • {{Cite book|last=Réau|first=Louis|title=Les peintres français du XVIII-e siècle: Histoire des vies et catalogue des œuvres|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x2VYAAAAMAAJ|publisher=G. Van Oest|year=1928–1930|editor-last=Dimier|editor-first=Louis|volume=1|location=Paris|at=p. 40, cat. no. 119|language=fr|chapter=Watteau|oclc=564527521}}
  • {{Cite book|title=Watteau: un artiste au XVIII-e siècle|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DuZOAAAAYAAJ|last=Roland Michel|first=Marianne|publisher=Flammarion|year=1984|isbn=0862940494 |location=Paris|at=pp. 55, 57, 156, 230, 266; ill. 145|oclc=417153549}}
  • {{cite book|last=Temperini|first=Renaud|year=2002|title=Watteau|series=Maîtres de l'art|language=fr|location=Paris|publisher=Gallimard|at=p. 63 145; cat. no. 77|isbn=9782070116867|oclc=300225840}}
  • {{Cite book|title=Watteau: des Meisters Werke in 182 Abbildungen|last=Zimmermann|first=E. Heinrich|publisher=Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt|year=1912|location=Stuttgart, Leipzig|pages=27, 186|language=de|author-link=:de:Ernst Heinrich Zimmermann|series=Klassiker der Kunst|volume=21|oclc=561124140}}

References

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External links

  • [http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/298147/jean-antoine-watteau-la-surprise-french-1718-1719/ La Surprise] at the Getty Museum official website

{{Antoine Watteau}}

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Category:1710s paintings

Category:Paintings by Antoine Watteau

Category:Musical instruments in art

Category:Dogs in art

Category:Paintings in the J. Paul Getty Museum

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