Tomb with Sphinxes and an Owl
Louis Jean Desprez
1779–84
Medium
Etching and aquatint in brown on cream laid paper
Dimensions
33.8 × 48.6 cm (13 5/16 × 19 3/16 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
209884
About the Artist
Louis Jean Desprez · 1743–1804
Louis Jean Desprez (1743–1804), born in Auxerre to a wig-maker father and widowed mother, began his artistic training as a twelve-year-old apprentice under engraver Charles-Nicolas Cochin in Paris in 1755. He later studied at the Académie royale d'architecture, sponsored by architect Pierre Desmaisons, and became a pupil of Charles de Wailly from 1768 to 1776, embracing neoclassicism inspired by I...