Monsù Desiderio
Appearance
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Nom%C3%A9%2C_Fran%C3%A7ois_%28Desiderio._Mons%C3%B9%29_-_Explos%C3%A3o_de_una_Catedral.jpg/220px-Nom%C3%A9%2C_Fran%C3%A7ois_%28Desiderio._Mons%C3%B9%29_-_Explos%C3%A3o_de_una_Catedral.jpg)
Monsù Desiderio is the name formerly given to an artist believed to have painted architectural scenes in a distinctive style in Naples in the early seventeenth century.[1] The term monsù, a corruption of the French monsieur, was often used by Neapolitan historians to denote a painter of foreign origin.[2]
In the mid-twentieth century, art historians identified the works previously attributed to "Desiderio" as being by at least three different painters: François de Nomé and Didier Barra, both originally from Metz, and a third artist, whose name is unknown. Nomé's works were described by Rudolf Wittkower as "bizarre and ghostlike paintings of architecture, often crumbling and fantastic".[1]
References
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