Desprez, trained as a stage designer and architect, was a talented watercolorist. He collaborated with Francesco Piranesi-the son of the more celebrated printmaker Giovanni Piranesi (1720-1778)-by drawing views of Naples, Rome, and Pompeii which Piranesi etched. Desprez then completed the prints with watercolor. The scene of tourists enjoying the ruins at Pompeii demonstrates how interest in antiquity had been augmented by the archaeological excavations at Herculaneum (1737) and Pompeii (1748). The discovery of homes, furnishings, and personal artifacts revealed the domestic aspects of ancient life.
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<P>Desprez, trained as a stage designer and architect, was a talented watercolorist. He collaborated with Francesco Piranesi-the son of the more celebrated printmaker Giovanni Piranesi (1720-1778)-by drawing views of Naples, Rome, and Pompeii which Piranesi etched. Desprez then completed the prints with watercolor. The scene of tourists enjoying the ruins at Pompeii demonstrates how interest in antiquity had been augmented by the archaeological excavations at Herculaneum (1737) and Pompeii (1748). The discovery of homes, furnishings, and personal artifacts revealed the domestic aspects of ancient life.</p>
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