DOWNMAN, JOHN English portrait painter. His pencil portrait drawings, slightly tinted in colour, usually from the reverse, are many of them of remarkable beauty. Sev eral volumes of sketches for these drawings are still in existence.
Downman is believed to have been "pressed" for the navy as a young man, and on his escape settled down for a while in Cam bridge, eventually coming to London, and later (1804) going to reside in Kent in the village of West Malling. He afterwards spent some part of his life in the west of England, especially in Exeter, and then travelled all over the country painting his dainty portraits.
See G. C. Williamson, John Downman, his Life and Works (19o7) .