View of Crossing in Saint Peter's
Medium
Pen and black ink and brush and black and gray wash, with touches of brown and yellow watercolor and graphite, on ivory laid paper, laid down on tan wove paper
Dimensions
54.7 × 42.4 cm (21 9/16 × 16 3/4 in.)
Classification
ink or chalk wash
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
95905
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...