Soon after Watteau's premature death in 1721, nearly three
hundred of his paintings were engraved and published. Until
recently, only about eighty of these paintings were generally
thought to have survived. In just the last decade, however, a
remarkable number of lost or previously unknown works have been
identified, including the masterpiece La Surprise of 1718-19,
now on long-term loan to The Frick Collection. This lecture will
draw attention to these newly rediscovered works, many of which
are still in private collections, and discuss the means by which
they have been identified and their attributions secured. Alan
Wintermute, Senior Specialist, Vice President, Head of Sales for
Old Master Paintings and Old Master Drawings, Christie's New
York, began his professional career as Assistant Director of
Stair Sainty Matthiesen Gallery in New York in 1984. From 1987
to 1996 he was a Director of Colnaghi USA, a leading gallery of
Old Master paintings, and he organized for the firm a series of
acclaimed exhibition