View of the Ruins of the Temple of Juno at Metapontum

Upon his arrival in Rome in 1777, Desprez was asked by the Abbé de Saint Non to tour southern Italy, producing illustrations that would ultimately illustrate the "Voyage pittoresque ou description des royaumes de Naples et de Sicile." Desprez made scores of drawings during the trip, and upon his return to Rome refined the 135 chosen for publication, including this sheet depicting the Doric columns constituting the remains of the Temple of Hera at Tavole Palatine, near Metapontum in Basilicata.
This drawing was engraved in the same direction by Jean-Duplessis-Bertaux and Charles Guttenberg in the Abbé de Saint Non's "Voyage pittoresque ou description des royaumes de Naples et de Sicile", Paris, 1781-86, vol. III, pp. 77-78, pl. 37.