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Tomb with Sphinx

Louis Jean Desprezc. 1779–84

The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States

Originally trained as an architect, Louis Jean Desprez produced this print depicting a tomb while living in Rome. He combined details observed while visiting catacombs in southern Italy with macabre inventions, such as the pair of feet visible from within the sculptural space. Desprez creatively used aquatint—a printmaking technique that produces shades of gray—to render the space’s dramatic shadows and stone surfaces.

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  • Title: Tomb with Sphinx
  • Creator: Louis Jean Desprez (French, 1743–1804)
  • Date Created: c. 1779–84
  • Physical Dimensions: Platemark: 34 x 48.7 cm (13 3/8 x 19 3/16 in.); Sheet: 35 x 50.3 cm (13 3/4 x 19 13/16 in.)
  • Provenance: (Galerie Gerda Bassenge, Berlin, Germany, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH), Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Type: Print
  • Rights: CC0
  • External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/2018.207
  • Medium: aquatint with etching
  • Inscriptions: inscribed in graphite on verso: 1881 / 10; watermark and countermark: fleur de lis enclosed in a circle, (right side of sheet); VM’TORJ, (est.), (left side of the sheet)
  • Fun Fact: The growing popularity of Egypt in the late 18th century, bolstered by Napoleon Bonaparte’s ultimately failed attempt to colonize the country, ensured a ready market for the subject of Louis Jean Desprez's print.
  • Department: Prints
  • Culture: France, 18th century
  • Credit Line: Severance and Greta Millikin Trust
  • Collection: PR - Aquatint
  • Accession Number: 2018.207
The Cleveland Museum of Art

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