Plate from the series of four tombs, ca 1780-1784
Original etching and aquatint
363 × 510 mm, trimmed within the copperplate
Very fine impression printed in brown, of an undescribed state between the first and the second one, with inscription on the plate lower left Desprez a rom, with additional row of tiles along the lower border, with the equal shades on each part of the Death but without annotation Em 8 upper right over the image
Restorations in the corners, slight central vertical fold, small rust stains in the right part of the lower border.
There are two preparatory wash drawings for this composition: one is preserved in the Musée Sainte Croix in Poitiers, the second one in the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York.

Reference: Wollin 29 ii/ii, I. B. N. F. 30, R. Michel, catalogue de l’exposition La Chimère de Monsieur Desprez, Paris, Musée du Louvre 1994, n° 38

Purchased by the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, USA