Claude-Louis Desrais, sometimes spelt Desray, lived all his life in Paris, and learned drawing and painting with the Italian artist Francesco Casanova (1727–1803), the younger brother of Giacomo Casanova, the great lover and writer.

For several years from 1778 Desrais was one of the designers who worked on illustrations for the Galerie des modes et costumes français, and in 1785–6 he designed the fashion plates for the Cabinet des modes. In 1793–4 he produced a series of allegorical figures for the print dealer Paul-André Basset (1759–1829) in the rue Saint-Jacques, which were engraved by Antoine Carrée.

Similar artists

Antoine Borel – French eighteenth-century rococo illustrator of galant erotic subjects.
Claude Bornet – French eighteenth-century rococo illustrator of galant subjects.
Jacques-Joseph Coigny – French eighteenth-century rococo illustrator of erotic subjects.
Vivant Denon – Eighteenth-century French draughtsman of Point de lendemain.
Charles Eisen – French eighteenth-century rococo illustrator of Contes de La Fontaine.
Sigmund Freudenberger – Swiss-French eighteenth-century illustrator of galant subjects.