After fetching high prices for a trio of Goya sketches earlier in the day, auction house Christie’s also found success selling a nearly 300-year-old painting by Jean-Antoine Watteau later Tuesday.
The Flemish-born, French artist’s 18th-century work La Surprise, long believed destroyed, sold for $24.9 million Cdn during the second half of Christie’s Old Masters sale in London.
It was the highest-ever price paid at auction for a French Old Master painting, according to the auction house.
Experts believe Watteau painted La Surprise around 1718, likely around the same time as another work, L’Accord Parfait, with both destined for his close friend Nicolas Henin, who was an adviser to King Louis XV.
Last seen in 1848, La Surprise was rediscovered just last year while Christie’s officials were valuing work at a home in the British countryside.