La Surprise, Jean-Antoine Watteau (c. 1718) via Christie’s

Christie’s Old Master Sales that took place last Tuesday, July 8th, featured quite a few ‘lost’ works of art, and generated over $47 million. In addition to the three rediscovered Goya drawings which sold for a combined $8 million, La Surprise by Jean-Antoine Watteau led the Old Masters Sale with a record breaking $24,376,385. The Watteau painting had been lost for almost 200 years, and was assumed to be destroyed until it appeared last year in a private English collection. It is the highest paid price for a French Old Master painting sold at auction to date, and well exceeded it’s $5.9-$9.8 million estimate. The sale also featured artwork by Anthony Van Dyck, Pieter Brueghel II, Thomas Lawrence, William Larkin, Jan Josefsz Van Goyen, and many more notable old masters.

Rediscovered Watteau Masterpiece Sells for Record $24.4 Million [Artdaily]
A Watteau sets record at £12.36 million in an uneven Old Masters sale [IHT]
Lost Watteau Fetches Record; Old Masters Languish at Christie’s [Bloomberg]
ÄŒR buys 8 Liechtenstein works at Christie’s auction [Praguemonitor]
Goya sketches “lost” for 130 years sold at auction [ReutersUK]
Goya Boosts Christie’s Drawings Sale [NYSun]
Francisco de Goya at Christie’s London [Coxsoft]
‘Lost’ Goya drawings sold for £4m [BBC]
Art buyers find ‘lost’ works [LATimes]
Christie’s Auction Results [Christie’s]
Goya Boosts Christie’s Old Masters Drawing Sale on Tuesday [Artobserved]

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