Captain Downman, the artist's brother

Captain Downman, the artist's brother

John Downman

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In this early work, Dowman used subtle grays to portray his elder brother Francis. An inscription at lower right indicates that the sitter holds the rank of captain. He later was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in the Royal Artillery, and participated in the 1778 British capture of the Caribbean island of St. Lucia from the French.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Captain Downman, the artist's brotherCaptain Downman, the artist's brotherCaptain Downman, the artist's brotherCaptain Downman, the artist's brotherCaptain Downman, the artist's brother

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.