id: 313396 accession number: 2018.207 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2018.207 updated: Tomb with Sphinx, c. 1779–84. Louis Jean Desprez (French, 1743–1804). Aquatint with etching; 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.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance and Greta Millikin Trust 2018.207 title: Tomb with Sphinx title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1779–84 creation date earliest: 1774 creation date latest: 1789 current location: creditline: Severance and Greta Millikin Trust copyright: --- culture: France, 18th century technique: aquatint with etching department: Prints collection: PR - Aquatint type: Print find spot: catalogue raisonne: Wollin 28 --- CREATORS * Louis Jean Desprez (French, 1743–1804) - artist --- measurements: 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.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: 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) translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE (Galerie Gerda Bassenge, Berlin, Germany, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH) date: 2018 footnotes: citations: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 2018- footnotes: citations: --- 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. digital description: 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. wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Wollin, Nils G. Gravures originales de Desprez ou exécutées d'après dessins. Malmö: J. Kroon, 1933. page number: Mentioned: p. 57, no. 28 (as Tombeau c); Reproduced: p. 146 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2018.207/2018.207_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2018.207/2018.207_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2018.207/2018.207_full.tif