John Downman

John Downman ARA (1750 – 24 December 1824) was a Welsh portrait and subject painter.

Downman is thought to have been born near Ruabon, Denbighshire, the son of Francis Downman, attorney, of St Neots, and Charlotte (née Goodsend, eldest daughter of the private secretary to George I); his grandfather, Hugh Downman (1672–1729), had been the master of the House of Ordnance at Sheerness. The Downman family is usually known as a Devonshire one, but the exact connexion between the artist and the Devonshire branch has not been traced. He was educated first at Chester, then at Liverpool, and finally at the Royal Academy schools, and was for a while in the studio of Benjamin West.

Downman set off in 1773 with Joseph Wright of Derby, a pregnant Ann Wright and Richard Hurleston for Italy. Their ship took shelter for three weeks in Nice before they completed their outward voyage in Livorno in Italy in February 1774. Downman returned to Britain in 1775.

He settled down for a while in Cambridge (1777), eventually coming to London, where he contributed to various art exhibitions. In 1804 he moved to the village of West Malling in Kent. In 1806, Downman visited Plymouth in the West Country, between 1807 and 1808 he practised at Exeter, afterwards working in London for some years, settling at Chester in 1818-19, then finally moving to Wrexham, where his only daughter married and where he died on 24 December 1824. He left a large collection of his paintings and drawings to his daughter. He was also the father of Sir Edwin Downman.

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