29 JUNE 1907, Page 6

John Downman, A.R.A. : his Life and Works. By G.

Williamson. Connoisseur Extra Number. (Connoisseur Office. 5s. net.)—Downman was a clever draughtsman up to a point, but he had the ordinary failing of the English Academician he was enamoured of the obvious and the pretty. These qualities, together with his eighteenth-century costume, no doubt account for his present popularity.