John Downman Art

Joseph-Marie Vien (1716-1809) ‘Ambassadeur de Siam’ and ‘La Sultana Reine’ Both titled lower centre, the drawing of the ambassador inscribed with colours intended for the prints, e...

Miniature Portrait French School, late 18th/ early 19th century framed: 5.5 x 5.5 inches board: 2 x 2 inches provenance: private collection, France condition: very good and sound c...

Ancient Persian Miniature is an original China Ink and Watercolour realized by an artist of 19th Century. Good condition for a little brown ...

Watercolour on ivory colored and watermarked paper"J. Whatm Turkey M.", 1820 c.a. Beautiful watercolour representing a typical Italian scene of ordinary life in XIX century: people...

One of the characters in this scene is a mature man, kneeling with his head bowed and hands clasped near his chest in a gesture of supplication. His posture conveys a sense of humili...

THE HON. MARY SHUTTLEWORTH, NÉE COCKBURN (D. 1777) and her sister ANNA MARIA, 9TH BARONESS FORRESTER (D. 1808) Pastel and gouache on paper laid on canvas, on their original backb...

Graphite on greenish gray wove paper. 15 1/4 x 11 5/8 inches (390 x 295 mm). Initialed "G. B." in pencil on the lower right recto. In generally good condition with some minor scattered surface soiling. Condition is consistent with age. ____ This drawing is closely related to two known mid 18th century oils...

English School early 19th century, Portrait of two children, Pencil and light heightenings of white and red gouache 29.5 x 23 cm In quite good condition : the pape is yellowed by time and there foxings and stains visible (please refer to the photographs) In a vintage frame (some minor damages) : 48.5 x 38 cm This charming drawing of children is typical of English portraiture as it had its heyday shortly before with Reynolds and Gainsborough. The codes required, for example, that the female sitter...

This drawing full of freshness presents us with the profile of an elegant lady, drawn by Augustin de Saint-Aubin on a beautiful summer day in 1776, during the early months of Louis X...

Adolph Eduard Otto von Faber du Faur (1828 Ludwigsburg - 1901 Munich). Man sitting in the studio. Watercolour painting, 43 x 27 cm (visible size), 73 x 53 cm (frame), monogrammed at lower right, estate stamp. Upper right corner neatly repaired, small tear in the wall to the left of the sitter. - Thinking about art - About the artwork The sitter, an elderly man, is seated in a studio on a pedestal reminiscent of an academy hall. The earthy, dark tones give the scene a weighty quality. The lightest tones are found in the incarnate parts of the figure, which do not stand out from the other colours of the picture, but are linked to them. As a result, the sitter's face is both part of and the highlight of the colour references in the picture. The colour of the sitter's skin is reflected in his pink coat, while his white-grey hair matches the colour of the wall next to him. This almost monochrome wall surface, in turn, is connected across the portrait to the framed picture standing on the floor, which seems to have been erased by this correspondence with the empty wall surface. Through the palette, which is positioned directly behind the sitter's head, the reference to painting, which is already given by the studio space, is explicitly linked to the sitter, who thus seems to be contemplating the question of the meaning of art. This raises the question of whether Faber Du Faur, who had become lonely in his old age, might have painted a self-portrait here in his later years. In addition to the studio setting, the sitter's explicit reference to the palette and the fact that the picture was part of his estate, the only summary elaboration of the body suggests a self-portrait, while the representation of the face is concretised with the wide-open eyes typical of a self-portrait. This concentration on the face gives the impression of the artist's melancholy introspection, captured by the palette and related to the meaning of painting, whose dark character is reinforced by the concealment of the palette hanging on the right of the picture in the light tones so characteristic of Faber Du Faur. In the course of this resignation, Faber du Faur advises his son Hans, who has also become a painter: "Promise me one thing: never move to Munich, they'll kill you here!" Whoever the sitter may be, the references to painting make the portrait a resigned self-contemplation by Faber Du Faur, focused on art. About the artist After leaving school, Otto Faber du Faur entered the service of the Württemberg army, at the same time cultivating his artistic talent. In 1851, on the recommendation of his father Christian Wilhelm, who was himself a battle painter, he spent six months in Munich as an apprentice to Alexander von Kotzebue. In 1852 he was granted a year's leave of absence from military service to study battle painting in the studio of Adolphe Yvon...

Unique set of expressive portrait studies in watercolor and ink by Santa Cruz artist Bob Newick (American, 20th Century). Signed "To Wendy / In Friendsh...

Watercolor on ivory colored paper, 1820 c.a. Hand-titled "Costume di Craco" with a caption "Provincia di Basilicata nel Regno di Napoli" in black ink on lower margin at the center. ...