Memento Portrait of a Young Midshipman

1769–1824

Not on view

The young subject’s blue jacket in this work identifies him as a sailor in the Royal Navy, a distant ship signaling his imminent departure from home. Downman’s success as a Regency-era portraitist resulted from a technique he devised that combined chalks and watercolor, enabling him to capture appealing likenesses and make multiple copies of these portraits if required. He received commissions from the royal family and nobility, but it was his many drawings for middle-class patrons that encouraged a growing contemporary taste for intimate, domestic-scale　portraiture. Born in Wales, Downman studied in Liverpool and London, traveled to Italy, and then worked in Cambridge, Plymouth, Chester, and Wrexham. This drawing was part of a bequest to the Met from Brooklyn-born George Dupont Pratt, a noted philanthropist, collector, and Met trustee.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Exhibition History

Title: Memento Portrait of a Young Midshipman
Artist: John Downman (British, Eynesbury, Huntingdonshire 1749–1824 Wrexham, Wales)
Date: 1769–1824
Medium: Watercolor, colored chalk, and graphite
Dimensions: sheet: 9 7/8 x 8 1/2 in. (25.1 x 21.6 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Bequest of George D. Pratt, 1935
Object Number: 48.149.18
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

By John Downman

In the same medium

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Mrs. Palmer, John Downman British, Welsh, Watercolor, colored chalk over graphite — Mrs. Palmer
John Downman
1785

The Dyson Children, John Downman British, Welsh, Chalk, graphite and watercolor — The Dyson Children
John Downman
1787

Elizabeth Ford, later Lady Colville of Culross, John Downman British, Welsh, Watercolor, colored chalk, and graphite — Elizabeth Ford, later Lady Colville of Culross
John Downman
Elizabeth Ford
1785

Mrs. Morgan and her Child, John Downman British, Welsh, Watercolor, colored chalk, charcoal over graphite — Mrs. Morgan and her Child
John Downman
1785

Isabella Hunter, Cousin of the Artist, John Downman British, Welsh, Watercolor, colored chalk, and graphite — Isabella Hunter, Cousin of the Artist
John Downman
1781

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