John Downman
(1750-1824) The daughters of the 7th Earl of Cavan; from left to right, Lady Honora Elizabeth Hester Lambart (1784-1856), Lady Sophia Augusta Lambart (1787-1798) and Lady Alicia Margaretta Hockmore Lambart (1785-1818)Provenance
Cavan family and thence by descent;
Private Collection UK.
Literature
G.C. Williamson; John Downman, his life and works, 1907, listed in sketch books ‘Third Series/ Volume the third), no. 9 (‘The Three daughters of the Earl of Cavan, 1788, in a group); ill.p.36 (the sketches for the present work).
This ambitious, large watercolour by John Downman portrays the three daughters of Richard Ford William Lambart, 7th Earl of Cavan (1763-1837), as children. Their father was head of the British Army in Egypt. It was on his suggestion that the long process was started to bring the obelisk known as Cleopatra’s Needle, long embedded in the sand near Alexandria, to London. The arrival of the monument did not happen until 50 years after his death but the obelisk now stands on the Embankment to commemorate the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars.
The three girls were from Cavan’s first marriage, on 8 July 1782, to Honora Margaretta (d. 1813), youngest daughter and coheir of Sir Henry Gould (1710-1794). On the left of the group stands the eldest daughter, Lady Honora Elizabeth Hester Lambart (1784-1856), age four, wearing a blue bonnet; the baby seated is Lady Sophia Augusta Lambart (1787-1798) and the child holding the chair is Lady Alicia Margaretta Hockmore Lambart...
This ambitious, large watercolour by John Downman portrays the three daughters of Richard Ford William Lambart, 7th Earl of Cavan (1763-1837), as children. Their father was head of the British Army in Egypt. It was on his suggestion that the long process was started to bring the obelisk known as Cleopatra’s Needle, long embedded in the sand near Alexandria, to London. The arrival of the monument did not happen until 50 years after his death but the obelisk now stands on the Embankment to commemorate the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars.
The three girls were from Cavan’s first marriage, on 8 July 1782, to Honora Margaretta (d. 1813), youngest daughter and coheir of Sir Henry Gould (1710-1794). On the left of the group stands the eldest daughter, Lady Honora Elizabeth Hester Lambart (1784-1856), age four, wearing a blue bonnet; the baby seated is Lady Sophia Augusta Lambart (1787-1798) and the child holding the chair is Lady Alicia Margaretta Hockmore Lambart (1785-1818), age three. The drawing may have been executed in the grounds of the family home, The Lodge, at Weston-Super-Mare. Their father remarried a year after their mother’s death in 1814.
Downman drew other members of the Lambart family, including the children’s mother Honora. The sitters are typical of the aristocratic family who looked to the artist to record a moment in time – in this case, the youth and energy of the three young daughters and the family dog.
