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Louis Jean Desprez (occasionally but incorrectly ''Jean Louis Desprez'') (May 1743–18 March 1804) was a French painter and architect who worked in Sweden during the last twenty years of his life.
File:Hämeenlinna Church.jpg,
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
Louis Jean Desprez (occasionally but incorrectly ''Jean Louis Desprez'') (May 1743–18 March 1804) was a French painter and architect who worked in Sweden during the last twenty years of his life.
Biography
Desprez, who was born inAuxerre
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 ...
in Bourgogne, 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 t ...
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 ...
and was associated with Piranesi in 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, 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 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 Turk ...
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.
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 fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019.
Located north of the c ...
, 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 ...
, after which the whole Frescati area in Stockholm later was named.
Selected works
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
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
See also
* Obelisk at SlottsbackenReferences
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