Tomb with Sphinxes and an Owl
Louis Jean Desprez (French, 1743–1804)
c. 1779–84
Medium
aquatint with etching
Dimensions
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Classification
Department
Prints
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Severance and Greta Millikin Trust
Accession Number
2018.207
Tags
male
About this artwork
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.