Accession Number
1997.75
Medium
brush and black chalk wash and watercolor, heightened with white gouache
Dimensions
Sheet: 22.7 x 18.9 cm (8 15/16 x 7 7/16 in.); Secondary Support: 30.2 x 24.8 cm (11 7/8 x 9 3/4 in.); Tertiary Support: 30.4 x 25.4 cm (11 15/16 x 10 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Credit Line
Bequest of Mrs. A. Dean Perry
Tags
Drawing Neoclassical & Romantic (1751–1850) Watercolor Gouache British
Background & Context
Background Story
John Downman (1750-1824) was a British painter known for the precisely observed, elegantly composed portraits that make him one of the most accomplished portrait painters of the Georgian era. Young Lady with a White Bow on Her Head from 1795 depicts a young lady with a white bow on her head in the precisely observed, elegantly composed manner that distinguishes Downman's best portrait work from the more general portraiture of his contemporaries. Downman was known for his precisely observed, elegantly composed portraits in watercolor that capture the personality and beauty of his sitters with remarkable delicacy.
Cultural Impact
Young Lady with a White Bow on Her Head is important in the history of British portraiture because it demonstrates the precisely observed, elegantly composed manner that Downman brought to watercolor portraiture as one of the most accomplished portrait painters of the Georgian era. Downman's precisely observed, elegantly composed watercolor portraits—capturing the personality and beauty of his sitters with remarkable delicacy—represent one of the most accomplished traditions in Georgian era portraiture, and the 1795 portrait shows this tradition at its most precisely observed.
Why It Matters
Young Lady with a White Bow on Her Head is Downman's precisely observed Georgian portrait: a young lady depicted in the elegantly composed manner of one of the most accomplished watercolor portrait painters of the Georgian era. The 1795 portrait shows the precise observation and elegant composition that make Downman distinctive.
