Eulogy of Louis-Jean Desprez, Interpreter of the Architecture of Messina

Abstract

Louis-Jean Desprez was the principle architect who handled the realization of the drawings of Messina, as part of a group appointed by the Abbé de Saint-Non, to represent all the places visited during the Voyage. He used several perspective views of the city, engraved between 1767 and 1770 by Francesco Sicuro, to select the most significant subjects of urban heritage. However, he used a radical reinterpretation, choosing completely different viewing points. Intentionally, his new criteria aimed at highlighting classicist architecture, resorting to dilation of the real measurements of buildings, always inserted in a large morphological context, therefore altering spatial proportions. The represented subjects were: the harbour and the Palazzata, the Cathedral, the Viceroy palace, the church of San Giovanni of Malta, the church of Santa Teresa, and urban landscapes from northern and eastern perspectives. Many important drawings by Desprez of Messina were excluded in the subsequent selection: from the drawings, Saint-Non commissioned those to be used for engravings. Those who today want to compare the representations of 1778 with the current city – identifying the same viewing points carefully evaluated by the French architect – will surely note the absence of any morphological relationship between the 18th century city and the one rebuilt after the 1908 earthquake. The rare buildings which survived the many earthquakes and reconstructions (the tribune of the church of San Giovanni di Malta, the Cathedral façade, the fountain of Orione) today define the rare cornerstones from which to evaluate the cultural principles of 20th century palingenesis.

Keywords

• Louis-Jean Desprez
• Messina
• architettura
• disegni