Lot n° 2
Estimation :
800 - 1200
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 5 021EUR
Louis Jean DESPREZ (1743-1804) - Lot 2
Louis Jean DESPREZ (1743-1804)
View of the Place de l'Obélisque in Catania, circa 1778
Drawing in Indian ink, (pen and wash) heightened with watercolor, signed on the mount lower right: "Des Prez del" and titled in ink on the mount.
Title and signature transferred in pen to the back of the mount.
The sheet is fully inserted and glued in its original 18th-century mount.
Presence of a mysterious little star in ink in the upper right-hand corner of the mount.
Dimensions of the drawing alone: 22 x 34.8 cm (each side of the sheet varying by a few millimeters).
Dimensions with mounting: 29 x 42.5 cm
This view shows the square in front of Catania's Duomo, with its fountain built in 1736 and an ancient obelisk in the center. The Sicilian city of Catania was visited by the artist in 1778.
Several very similar versions of this view exist: one in a private collection in New York, one at the Centre Culturel Suédois in Paris, and two sold at auction (Galerie Bassenge in 2018 and Sotheby's Paris in 2015. On the version sold at Sotheby's, the square is virtually depopulated.
The Fondation Custodia acquired a version at the 2007 Salon du Dessin from the Terrades gallery;
These versions differ in their treatment of the details of the figures and architecture.
Abbé Richard de Saint-Non produced an engraving of this view after Louis Jean Despez for the "Voyage pittoresque ou Description des royaumes de Naples et de Sicile", which differs from our drawing, which features numerous figures watching a performance by actors in Asian costumes.
(Freckling and sunning of the sheet).
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