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John Downman

Antique Statue of Seated Putto Holding Mask of Silenus

1775
Charcoal, with stumping, and black crayon, heightened with white chalk, on ivory laid paper, prepared with a tan ground
53.9 × 37 cm (21.2 × 14.6 in)

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In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

British portrait artist and Royal Academician John Downman spent the years 1773 to 1775 in Italy learning from antiquity. In Rome, he produced numerous drawings after ancient sculptures, including the Spinario (Boy with a Thorn) and the Dying Gaul, both in the Capitoline Museums, which opened to the public in 1734. Downman drew this putto with a theater mask at least twice during the same sitting, noting that it was “from a beautiful Statue in the Capital.” The Art Institute owns nearly 50 sheets after the antique by the artist, which he likely kept in an album for later reference.

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