Tomb with Sphinxes and an Owl (c. 1779–84): Art, History and Details

Tomb with Sphinxes and an Owl (c. 1779–84) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Louis Jean Desprez (French, 1743–1804).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

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.

Object facts

• Title: Tomb with Sphinxes and an Owl
• Date: c. 1779–84
• Creator attribution: Louis Jean Desprez (French, 1743–1804)
• Culture: France
• Type: Print
• Technique: aquatint with etching
• Dimensions: 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.)
• Collection: PR - Aquatint
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 2018.207

A detail from the museum

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.

Collection credit

Severance and Greta Millikin Trust

Further reading listed by the museum

• Wollin, Nils G. Gravures originales de Desprez ou exécutées d'après dessins. Malmö: J. Kroon, 1933.
• Peters, Emily and Salsbury, Britany. “Acquisitions 2018: Prints and Drawings.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 59, no. 2 (March/April 2019): 20-23.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.