Lot Essay
Downman executed another drawing of Queen Charlotte, dated 1783, on the reverse of which is a long inscription regarding the sitting, `Her Majesty of England, 1783 1st sitting. She was Sophia Charlotte, Princess of Meclenburg-Strelitz. She sat in the Queen’s Closet, Buckingham House. His Majesty came in with Lords North and Grantham and two others. Presently the two eldest Princesses. The King said to the Princess Royal, `Are you also prepared to sit?’…. I also drew their portrait and groups in whole lengths, and a whole length of the Queen for the Duchess of Ancaster, and two others’. It is possible that the present drawing is one of the full-lengths referred to in this inscription. G.C. Williamson, John Downman, A.R.A. His Life and Works, 1907, illustrates a half-length portrait, dated 1762, opposite p. viii.