Work Of French Master Found In Basement

After a little detective work, a painting that lay for years in the basement of the Art Institute of Chicago has been pronounced the work of the 18th-century French master Jean Antoine Watteau.

Two specialists from the museum discerned distinctive features of Watteau’s hand in the work, “Fete champetre,” or “Country Holiday.” It shows a group of well-dressed people at a gathering in the woods.

Then Pierre Rosenberg, director of the Louvre, found a sketch of the painting in the margin of a 1773 auction catalog. The sketch clearly reproduces the painting and attributes it to Watteau.

The painting, which is now on display, was given to the museum by a couple in 1954. The artist’s identity was unknown.

Watteau, who was born in 1684 and died at 37, is known for his work “The Embarkation for Cythera,” a rococo-style painting of a group of French aristocrats preparing to leave for the island home of Aphrodite.