In April 1784, Desprez signed a two-year contract in Rome putting him in overall charge of stage designs for the Royal Theatre in Stockholm. His first assignment was the decor for Gustav III and Johan Henric Kellgren’s drama Queen Christina, staged at the Gripsholm Theatre at New Year 1785. He himself painted the backdrop, showing the illuminated garden of the “Makalös” (Nonsuch) Palace, now Kungsträdgården, in Stockholm. He later had his own studio in the palace, known by then as the Arsenal.