LOUIS JEAN DESPREZ

(Auxerre, 1743 - Stockholm, 1804) View of the interior of St. Peter's with the lighting of the cross on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday Oil on canvas, cm 37.5X28.5 Provenance: Milan, private collection A pupil in Paris of the architect and urban planner Jacques François Blondel, Desprez was awarded a prize by the Academy in 1770 and after a few years moved to Italy, staying in Rome from 1777 to 1784, collaborating with Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Mogliano Veneto, 1720 ; Rome, 1778) and studying classical antiquity, going as far as Pompeii where he produced numerous watercolors of the most significant buildings. During these years the artist devoted himself to painting the topical places of the Eternal City and its main churches, particularly the interior of St. Peter's following Piranesi's example and of which several preliminary studies are known. On the other hand, the interior view of the Pantheon, of which we know of no other compositions, should be considered rarer. Returning to the view of the interior of St. Peter's, it should be pointed out that this one does not resume Piranesi's engraving at all, being clearly in counterpart, which, given also its small size, leads one to consider it preparatory.