Portrait of a Woman in Profile 1791

John Downman rendered this portrait of an unknown woman in profile using graphite and colored chalk. Its softness speaks to the conventions of portraiture in late eighteenth-century England. The work is interesting for what it tells us about the art market of its time. Downman was a commercially successful artist who produced portraits for a clientele who were consumers of art but not necessarily connoisseurs. The delicacy of the pastel medium and the intimacy of the small oval format lent themselves to images of women who prized sensibility and taste. Consider the way the sitter’s hair is arranged, the cut of her dress, and the soft sfumato of the background. These features would have contributed to the construction of a feminine ideal. The woman's anonymity and the absence of precise dating invite us to examine these visual codes in their wider cultural context. Auction records, fashion plates, and domestic advice manuals can help us better understand the conditions under which this artwork was produced.