Lost Watteau Turns Up.

Missing for 160 years, a painting by the French master Jean-Antoine Watteau has been found in a private home in England and will be sold at a Christie's auction in London on July 8, when it is expected to fetch $3 million to $5 million, Reuters reported. The painting, ''La Surprise'' (about 1718), depicts a seated actor playing a guitar and glancing to his right at a couple amorously embracing. It was last noted in a probate valuation in 1848, when it was bequeathed to the family of the current owners, who had no idea what they had. A spokesman for Christie's said, ''It was found during a routine valuation in the corner of a small sitting room in an English country house.'' The only other known version of the painting is a copy in the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace. The current record price for a Watteau is $4.75 million. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]