Watteau’s La Surprise, painted around 1718, was known only through a copy in the Royal Collection before the original was found during a routine insurance valuation in 2007.

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.

The painting is sold at auction on July 8, 2008 for fifteen million Euros; this sets a world record price for a painting by Watteau.