JOHN

See also:

• JOHN DOWNMAN (1750–1824)

DOWNMAN (1750–1824)  , English portrait painter, was the son of Francis Downman,attorney, of St Neots, by Charlotte Goodsend, eldest daughter of the private secretary to George I.; his grandfather, Hugh Downman (1672–1729), having been the master of the House of Ordnance at Sheerness . He is believed to have been born near Ruabon, educated first at Chester, then at Liverpool, and finally at the Royal Academy schools, and he was for a while in the studio of Benjamin West . His exquisite pencil portrait drawings, slightly tinted in colour, usually from the reverse, are well known, and many of them are of remarkable beauty . Several volumes of sketches for these drawings are still in existence . Downman is believed to have been " pressed " for the navy as a young man, and on his escape settled down for a while in Cambridge, eventually coming to London, and later (1804) going to reside in Kent in the village of West Malling . He afterwards spent some part of his life in the west of England, especially in Exeter, and then travelled all over the country painting his dainty portraits . In 1818 he settled down at Chester, finally removing to Wrexham, where his only daughter married and where he died and was buried . He was an associate of the Royal Academy . The Downman family is usually known as a Devonshire one, but the exact connexion between the artist 2 Cal. of St Pap.; Dom . (1661–1662) p . 408; Notes and Queries, ix. ser. vii . 92 .

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Diary, March 12, 17, 1662 . 5 Sibley, i . 46 . s lb . May 27, 1667 . and the Devonshire branch has not been traced . Many ofd flowed through the gap . In this depression lies Farnham, the his portraits have attached to them remarks of considerable importance respecting the persons represented . See John Downman, his Life and Works, by G . C . Williamson (London, 1907) . (G .

C . W .