John Downman
(1750-1824) Mrs Townley and her son seated embracing by an open windowProvenance
Townley family;
With M. Knoedler & Co., New York;
Sotheby's London, November 26, 1998, lot 7.
Literature
G.C. Williamson; John Downman, his life and works, 1907, sketch for the finished portrait (collection of Mrs Maitland), ill.p. 44.
This double portrait of Mrs Townley and her son recalls the traditional pose of the Virgin Mary and infant Jesus, painted by artists over the centuries. With Mrs Townley in profile and wearing white muslin dress and a simple bonnet over her curls, the image also fits with the fashionable Neoclassical aesthetic so popular in the early 19th century. Although it has not been possible to ascertain who the sitters are in this portrait, it is possible that they were linked in some way to the antiquarian Charles Townley (1737-1805), who influenced many artists and sculptors through his collection of antiquities – known as the ‘Townley Marbles’ – which were deposited in 1778 in a house specially built for them in Park Street, London.
Painted in the last ten years of his career, this double portrait shows a slightly different style to Downman’s earlier technique, with more care lavished on the sitter’s faces and dress. Although he continued to...
This double portrait of Mrs Townley and her son recalls the traditional pose of the Virgin Mary and infant Jesus, painted by artists over the centuries. With Mrs Townley in profile and wearing white muslin dress and a simple bonnet over her curls, the image also fits with the fashionable Neoclassical aesthetic so popular in the early 19th century. Although it has not been possible to ascertain who the sitters are in this portrait, it is possible that they were linked in some way to the antiquarian Charles Townley (1737-1805), who influenced many artists and sculptors through his collection of antiquities – known as the ‘Townley Marbles’ – which were deposited in 1778 in a house specially built for them in Park Street, London.
Painted in the last ten years of his career, this double portrait shows a slightly different style to Downman’s earlier technique, with more care lavished on the sitter’s faces and dress. Although he continued to attract plenty of patrons, in 1804 he had moved from London to West Malling in Kent. After this date he became more peripatetic, visiting Plymouth and Exeter (presumably on the hunt for fresh patronage) and then settling in Chester in 1818. His final years were spent back in Wales, to be near his daughter and he died there on Christmas Eve 1824.
