A never previously exhibited painting by Honoré Daumier goes on public display at the Royal Academy this weekend as part of the first British show in 50 years for the 19th-century French painter who, curators maintain, deserves to be far better known than he is.
Daumier was described by Baudelaire as one of the most important men "in the whole of modern art" and his works have been owned and admired by artists such as Degas, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Picasso, Francis Bacon and Peter Doig. But he is little known by the wider public – part of the reason the RA has brought together 130 works for the first big UK exhibition since an Arts Council show at Tate in 1961.
The idea for the show came from Catherine Lampert, who has curated the show with the RA's Ann Dumas.
Among the works on display is a satirical watercolour called What a Frightful Spectacle (c.1865) showing a stagefright-stricken actor. Curators believe it was in private ownership for more than a century and therefore not included in a 1968 catalogue raisonné.
Earlier this year it was bought at auction in France by the dealer and collector David Lachenmann, who contacted Lampert on hearing about the exhibition.
The show reflects Daumier's success and reputation as a daring caricaturist but also explores how he wanted and deserved to be respected as a fine artist.
It also has many examples of one of Daumier's preoccupations: the silent contemplation and scrutiny of art.
Lampert said because Daumier's smaller paintings were often displayed in galleries alongside the more dramatic works of his contemporaries – such as Delacroix and Courbet – he tended to get overlooked, but there was a beauty and prescience to Daumier's work. "I think he would have been a fantastic film director, because he picks up nuances ... his pictures are understated."
He is a painter probably most revered in Germany and, because of his leftwing sympathies and interest in the common man, was very popular in Eastern Europe after the second world war.
And now the UK, the RA hopes. "Artists are really passionate about Daumier," said Dumas. "In almost every work you see what a fantastic draughtsman he is."
• Daumier (1808-1879): Visions of Paris is at the RA 26 October-26 January
