Sunday, November 19, 2017

Extravaganzas of Louis-Jean Desprez

Louis-Jean Desprez
La Chimère
1771
etching
British Museum

"Trained as an architect, Desprez won the Prix de Rome for architecture in 1776 and lived in Italy from 1777 to 1784 where he found employment as an illustrator.  In 1784 he left for Stockholm as theatre designer to king Gustav III.  Today he is best remembered for his skills as a draftsman.  He also made a small number of original etchings, of which La Chimère is both the most accomplished and the most bizarre.  The subject is described in a lengthy inscription which appears on the fifth state of the print.  Born in the burning sands of Africa, Desprez's mythical beast has three heads: one a bird and two with the features of the devil.  The skeletal monster devours its human prey amid the bones of its previous victims framed by the dark semicircle of an archway, the pale semicircle of the moon visible beyond.  Even seen against the venerable tradition of demonic creatures in Western art, Desprez's macabre vision is a tour de force of his inventive skills and graphic technique."

 curator's notes from the Metropolitan Museum

attributed to Louis-Jean Desprez
Temple of Discord
before 1804
wash drawing
British Museum

Louis-Jean Desprez
Grotto of Posilippo, Naples
before 1784
watercolor (print study)
British Museum

Louis-Jean Desprez
Death of Priam
before 1804
watercolor
British Museum

Louis-Jean Desprez
Tomb of Agamemnon
before 1804
wash drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Louis-Jean Desprez
Girandola at Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome
 before 1784
designed and hand-colored by Desprez, etched by Francesco Piranesi
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

"From 1471 the papacy sponsored a spectacular fireworks display called the Girandola at the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome, the papal fortress originally constructed as the mausoleum of the emperor Hadrian.  Every year at Easter; on the eve of the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul (June 28); and whenever a new pope was elected the fireworks would be staged.  This remarkable print, designed and hand-colored by Louis-Jean Desprez and etched by Francesco Piranesi (son of the more famous Giovanni Battista) depicts the Girandola from a vantage on the opposite bank of the Tiber.  In the foreground, spectators watch from carriages and a canopied viewing stand.  Animated crowds populate the dramatically foreshortened Ponte Sant'Angelo, and the explosion of the rockets illuminating the night sky dominates the upper half of the sheet."

 curator's notes from the Metropolitan Museum

Louis-Jean Desprez
Fantastic Interior with Torture Scene
before 1804
wash drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Louis-Jean Desprez
Holy Sacrament in the Pauline Chapel, Apostolic Palace, Vatican
before 1784
designed and hand-colored by Desprez, etched by Francesco Piranesi
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Louis-Jean Desprez
Illumination of the Cross at St Peter's in Rome on Good Friday
1787
designed and hand-colored by Desprez, etched by Francesco Piranesi
Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Louis-Jean Desprez
View of the Grotta di Palazzo with Banquet
ca. 1790
watercolor
Art Institute of Chicago

Louis-Jean Desprez
Classical Amphitheater
ca. 1777-84
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Louis-Jean Desprez
View of Ruins of the Temple of Juno at Metapontum
before 1781
watercolor (print study)
Morgan Library, New York

Louis-Jean Desprez
Ancient scene with Funeral ceremony for an Actor
ca. 1777
watercolor
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Louis-Jean Desprez
Antiquities found at Herculaneum being transported to Naples Museum
ca. 1782
watercolor (print study)
British Museum

attributed to Louis-Jean Desprez
Visitors inspecting Classical Ruins
before 1804
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York