Association Française pour le Rayonnement du Théâtre du Château de Drottningholm

Louis-Jean Desprez
1743-1804
Biographical note by Gilbert Blin - page 3/3

At the pick of his Italian activities, at 41 years, Desprez met Gustave III; the sovereign engaged him to come to express his talents in Sweden. An architect, coming from the great French academic tradition, improved by Italy and changeable in his modes of expression, was a find for the king of Sweden which was transforming, at that time, the Swedish cultural institutions and needed new energetic and devoted talents.

Despite difficult financial conditions, Desprez had a brilliant production in Sweden. He collaborated in an impressing number of spectacles and rejoicings, drawing many decorations and a number of costumes. With his compatriot Gallodier, the ballet master, he contributed to the construction of what one calls the Swedish national opera.
Quickly taking importance in the artistic entourage of the sovereign, and thanks to the indefectible support of the sculptor Johan Tobias Sergel, Desprez developed, among others, the architectural projects of Gustave III for the park of Haga, near Stockholm. “Architecte du Roy”, Desprez signed, in 1791, the buildings of the Botanical Institute of Uppsala and equipped the Theatre of the Castle of Drottningholm with a splendid foyer. If the majority of its architectural projects were never completed, those which were built are still in use nowadays.
Finally Desprez trained pupils, of which the best in architecture, Karl Kristoffer Gjorwell, gave Sweden a large number of neo-classic buildings, while the painter decorator Pehr Emmanuel Limnell established himself as one of the most important Swedish set-designers of the first half of the XIXth century.

On March 19, 1804, Desprez died in Stockholm.

Discover, on this subject:

• Desprez in Sweden: a pictural short view of Louis-Jean Desprez's architectural works (pictures: Académie Desprez's collection )