Guillaume-Désiré-Joseph Descamps, a painter and engraver, was born at Lille

Lille

Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...

 in 1779. He was a pupil of Vincent

François-André Vincent

François-André Vincent was a French neoclassical painter.He was the son of the miniaturist François-Elie Vincent and studied under Joseph-Marie Vien. He travelled to Rome, where he won the Prix de Rome in 1768...

, but, obtaining the
"prix de Rome

Prix de Rome

The Prix de Rome was a scholarship for arts students, principally of painting, sculpture, and architecture. It was created, initially for painters and sculptors, in 1663 in France during the reign of Louis XIV. It was an annual bursary for promising artists having proved their talents by...

," he improved himself by travelling in Italy, and became court-painter of Murat

Prince Achille Murat

Achille Charles Louis Napoléon, Crown Prince of Naples, Hereditary Prince of Berg, 2nd Prince Murat was the eldest son of the King of Naples during the First French Empire and later in life mayor of Tallahassee, Florida in the United States.-Early life:Murat was born in the Hôtel de Brienne in...

 in Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

. He died in Paris in 1858. The following paintings were executed by him:

• The Women of Sparta (in the Lille Museum
  Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille
  The Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille is one of the largest museums in France, and the largest French museum outside of Paris....
  
  ). 1808.
• The Martyrdom of St. Andrew (in St. Andrė, Lille).
• Murat on board the Ceres distributing Rewards (engraved hy himself).
• The Conversion of St. Augustine (in St. Eustache
  Église Saint-Eustache, Paris
  L’église Saint-Eustache is a church in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, built between 1532 and 1632.Situated at the entrance to Paris’s ancient markets and the beginning of rue Montorgueil, the Église de Saint-Eustache is considered a masterpiece of late Gothic architecture...
  
  , Paris).
• The Apotheosis of Cardinal Tommasi (in San Martino di Monti
  San Martino ai Monti
  San Martino ai Monti, also known as Santi Silvestro e Martino ai Monti - Titolo Equizio, is a basilica church in Rome, Italy, in the Rione Monti neighbourhood.-History:...
  
  , Rome).
• The Neapolitan Troops marching out against Capri.

As an engraver he also produced six plates from the 'Fable of Psyche.'