Attention
n.d.
Medium
Charcoal with stumping on cream laid paper
Dimensions
38.3 × 27.3 cm (15 1/8 × 10 3/4 in.)
Classification
charcoal
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
109136
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Downman’s drawings appear in the same direction as (and likely reproduce) Jean Audran’s large-scale 1727 etchings after Le Brun. The accompanying text describes the expression of attention thusly: “The effects of attention are to lower and contract the eyebrows toward the sides of the nose, to turn the pupils toward the object that causes (the emotion), to open the mouth, and above all, the top lip, to lower the head little and to keep it steady without other notable changes.”
About the Artist
John Downman · 1750–1824
John Downman (1750–1824) was born in Ruabon, near Wrexham, in North Wales. His artistic inclinations proved stronger than any legal ambitions his family held for him, and he began his formal training in Liverpool before enrolling in 1769 among the first intake of students at the newly established Royal Academy Schools in London. There he studied under Benjamin West. In 1773, Downman deepened his e...