Portrait of William, 1st Baron Downes (1752-1826), half-length, wearing a dark coat and white jabot, Inscribed on the stretcher, verso; No.7 The Honble Justace Downs [sic], Oil on Canvas Provenance: Probably commissioned by the sitter and given by him to John Scott, 7th Earl of Clonmell; by descent to his daughter, Audrey Moulie Estelle who married Henry Christian Seymour Coombe, Scardroy Lodge, Scotland; sold at Sotheby’s, London, 2009. Born at Donnybrook, County Dublin, the third and youngest son of Robert Downes (1708- 1754) and his wife Elizabeth Twigg, the sitter graduated from Trinity College, Dublin in 1773, and was admitted to the Middle Temple the same year. Called to the Irish Bar in 1776 he acquired a reputation for industry and competence, successfully defending the future Major-General Gillespie against charges of murder. In 1790 he was elected Member of Parliament for Donegal, and two years later was made a puisne judge of the Irish King’s Bench. In 1803 he was promoted to Chief Justice of the King’s Bench, following the murder of the previous incumbent, Viscount Kilwarden, and in 1806 he became Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dublin. He died unmarried at Merville, near Stillorgan, on 3rd March 1826, and was buried in the vault of St Anne’s Church in Dawson Street, Dublin, alongside the body of his friend and colleague William Tankerville Chamberlain (1751-1802). A full length portrait of the sitter in judicial robes by Hamilton was engraved by Henry Brocas.