LOUIS-JEAN DESPREZ (AUXERRE 1743-1804 STOCKHOLM)

In this drawing, the guards keep a close watch over the Tomb of the Priestess Mamia, in Pompeii, while a few tourists visit the archeological site, four grimacing comedy masks lined up on the left. While the site of Pompeii was first excavated in 1748, the Tomb of the Priestess Mamia was only discovered between 1758 and 1764 by the Swiss Karl Jakob Weber (1712-1765).This engraving was executed after a drawing by Desprez, who later enhanced the etched outlines with watercolour, by Francesco Piranesi (1756-1810), who specialised in topographical views of Rome, Naples and Pompeii. As well as a printmaker, Piranesi was also curator of antiquities in Rome on behalf of the Swedish Court. Wollin mentions four impressions enhanced in watercolour by Desprez, among which two can be found in public collections (inv. 285/1883, the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm and the Albertina in Vienna; see Wollin, op. cit.). A second print of the composition was made by a pupil of Saint Non, G. Paris, for Abbé de Saint Non's publication Voyage pittoresque ou description des royaumes de Naples et de Sicile, Paris, 1781-1786 (ibid., p. 105, no. 1a, 1b).