Louis Jean Desprez (occasionally but incorrectly ''Jean Louis Desprez'') (May 1743–18 March 1804) was a French painter and architect who worked in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

during the last twenty years of his life.

Biography

Desprez, who was born in

Auxerre Auxerre ( , ) is the capital of the Yonne department and the fourth-largest city in Burgundy. Auxerre's population today is about 35,000; the urban area (''aire d'attraction'') comprises roughly 113,000 inhabitants. Residents of Auxerre are r ...

Bourgogne Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

, France. He studied architecture and was awarded the Great Prize of the

Académie royale d'architecture The Académie Royale d'Architecture (; en, "Royal Academy of Architecture") was a French learned society founded in 1671. It had a leading role in influencing architectural theory and education, not only in France, but throughout Europe and th ...

in 1770. He traveled frequently to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and was associated with

Piranesi Giovanni Battista (or Giambattista) Piranesi (; also known as simply Piranesi; 4 October 1720 – 9 November 1778) was an Italian Classical archaeologist, architect, and artist, famous for his etchings of Rome and of fictitious and atmospheric ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. He came to the attention of King

Gustav III of Sweden Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Prussia. Gustav was a vocal opponent of what ...

, who offered him a two-year contract as director of scenic decorations at the new Stockholm Opera founded by the King two years earlier. His first task there was the decorations for the new opera ''Gustaf Wasa'' (with a

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

authored by the King in collaboration with

Johan Henric Kellgren Johan Henrik Kellgren (1 December 1751 – 20 April 1795) was a Swedish poet and critic. Biography He was born at Floby in Västergötland (now part of Falköping Municipality, Västra Götaland County). He studied at the Royal Academy of Turku, ...

and music by

Johann Gottlieb Naumann Johann Gottlieb Naumann (17 April 1741 – 23 October 1801) was a German composer, conductor, and Kapellmeister. Life Johann Gottlieb Naumann was born in Blasewitz and received his musical training from the teachers at his town school, where he ...

). As an architect, Desprez designed in a monumental, neoclassical style influenced by his study of Greek and Roman ruins in the south of Italy and in Sicily. A good example of this is

Hämeenlinna Hämeenlinna (; sv, Tavastehus; krl, Hämienlinna; la, Tavastum or ''Croneburgum'') is a city and municipality of about inhabitants in the heart of the historical province of Tavastia and the modern province of Kanta-Häme in the south of F ...

Church in Finland - Finland at that time still being part of the Swedish kingdom - completed in 1799. His greatest project was one never realized: the magnificent new palace planned by the King for the Haga Park outside Stockholm. Because of lack of money, only the foundations were ever built and the project was abandoned after the assassination of the King. The smaller "royal pavilion" which stands at Haga was built by architect,

Olof Tempelman Olov (or Olof) is a Swedish form of Olav/Olaf, meaning "ancestor's descendant". A common short form of the name is ''Olle''. The name may refer to: * Per-Olov Ahrén (1926–2004), Swedish clergyman, bishop of Lund from 1980 to 1992 *Per-Olov Br ...

. His most significant completed project was the conservatory building in the new botanical garden in

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

, inaugurated after his death on May 13, 1807, the 100th anniversary of

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

's birth. He also built the Villa Frescati in 1791-92 for

Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt Count Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt (russian: Граф Густав-Маврикий Максимович Армфельт, tr, ; 31 March 1757 – 19 August 1814) was a Finnish-Swedish-Russian courtier and diplomat. In Finland, he is considered one of ...

, after which the whole Frescati area in Stockholm later was named.

Selected works

File:Hämeenlinna Church.jpg,

Church File:Kupferzelt Hagapark.jpg, Copper Tent at Haga Park File:Uppsala Botanical Garden in winter.jpg, Conservatory in the Botanical Garden, Uppsala File:Déjeunersalongen Drottningholms slottsteater.JPG, Déjeuner Salon at Drottningholm Castle Theater

References

Other Sources

*
Nordisk familjebok
' * Richard Godfrey ''Louis-Jean Desprez'' (Print Quarterly Vol. 3, No. 3, September 1986, pp. 238–240 {{DEFAULTSORT:Desprez, Louis Jean 1743 births 1804 deaths People from Auxerre Swedish people of French descent 18th-century French architects 18th-century French painters French male painters Swedish architects 18th-century Swedish painters 18th-century Swedish male artists Swedish male painters French neoclassical painters French neoclassical architects Prix de Rome for architecture 18th-century French male artists

Biography

Selected works

See also

References

Other Sources