The Tomb of Agamemnon

Louis Jean Desprez French

Not on view

Trained as an architect, the French artist Desprez was appointed by King Gustav III of Sweden in 1784 as the head stage designer for the Royal Opera in Stockholm. This drawing relates to the sets Desprez made for the Swedish opera Electra, which premiered at Drottningholm Castle on July 22, 1787. The scene of Agamemnon’s interment is in the prologue, which opens with Electra and Orestes plotting to avenge their father’s murder. Desprez’s rendering is cloaked in gloom, with torches and censers dramatically lighting the architecture from below.

The Tomb of Agamemnon, Louis Jean Desprez (French, Auxerre 1743–1804 Stockholm), Pen and black ink, brush and gray wash, heightened with white gouache

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