Chimera, Louis Jean Desprez, c. 1777 - c. 1784
etching, h 315mm × w 375mm More details
The architect and set designer Desprez favoured theatrical depictions. Here he offers a free interpretation of a chimera, a hybrid mythological creature, which he turns into a three-headed desert monster hunting for food in front of a run-down palace in North Africa. The partly digested carcass of its last victim still sticks out of its ribcage and the ground is littered with animal remains.
