John Russell was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 painter

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

 renowned for his portrait

Portrait

thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...

 work in oils

Oil painting

Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...

 and pastels

Crayon

A crayon is a stick of colored wax, charcoal, chalk, or other materials used for writing, coloring, drawing, and other methods of illustration. A crayon made of oiled chalk is called an oil pastel; when made of pigment with a dry binder, it is simply a pastel; both are popular media for color...

, and as a writer and teacher of painting techniques.

Life and work

Russell was born in in Guildford

Guildford

Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...

, Surrey

Surrey

Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

, the son of John Russell Snr., book and print seller and five times mayor of the town; his father was something of an artist, and drew and published two views of Guildford. Russell was educated at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford

Royal Grammar School, Guildford

The Royal Grammar School is a selective English independent day school for boys in Guildford, Surrey. The school dates its founding to the death of Robert Beckingham in 1509 who left provision in his will to 'make a free scole at the Towne of Guldford'; in 1512 a governing body was set up to form...

, and soon showed a strong inclination for art. He trained under the tutelage of Francis Cotes

Francis Cotes

Francis Cotes was an English painter, one of the pioneers of English pastel painting, and a founder member of the Royal Academy in 1768.-Life and work:...

 RA (of Cavendish Square

Cavendish Square

Cavendish Square is a public square in the West End of London, very close to Oxford Circus, where the two main shopping thoroughfares of Oxford Street and Regent Street meet. It is located at the eastern end of Wigmore Street, which connects it to Portman Square, part of the Portman Estate, to its...

, London), one of the pioneers of English pastel painting, and, like Cotes, was an admirer of the pastel drawings of Rosalba Carriera

Rosalba Carriera

Rosalba Carriera was a Venetian Rococo painter. In her younger years, she specialized in portrait miniatures...

 whose methods influenced his technique of “sweetening.” At the age of 19 he was converted to Methodism

Methodism

Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...

, which was the cause of tension with his family and with his art teacher; he made no secret of his strong evangelical leanings and would attempt to preach and convert at every opportunity.

Russell set up his own studio, in London, in 1767. He made the acquaintance of the notorious Dr. William Dodd

William Dodd (clergyman)

William Dodd was an English Anglican clergyman and a man of letters. He lived extravagantly, and was nicknamed the "Macaroni Parson"...

, painting his portrait in 1768. He was introduced to Selina, Countess of Huntingdon

Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon

Selina, Countess of Huntingdon was an English religious leader who played a prominent part in the religious revival of the 18th century and the Methodist movement in England and Wales, and has left a Christian denomination in England and Sierra Leone.-Early life:Selina Hastings was born as Lady...

, who tried in vain to induce him to give up painting and attend her Methodist ministers' training college at Trevecca in Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. On 5 February 1770, he married Hannah Faden daughter of a Charing Cross

Charing Cross

Charing Cross denotes the junction of Strand, Whitehall and Cockspur Street, just south of Trafalgar Square in central London, England. It is named after the now demolished Eleanor cross that stood there, in what was once the hamlet of Charing. The site of the cross is now occupied by an equestrian...

 print and map seller) whom he had converted. They lived at No. 7 Mortimer Street, Cavendish Square, to which he had moved in 1770.

Russell's work caused him to travel extensively around Britain. In 1772, he wrote Elements of Painting with Crayons, by which time he had won premiums for his drawings from the Society of Arts in 1759 and 1760, and entered the Royal Academy

Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...

 school of art in 1770, winning its gold medal for figure drawing the same year. He exhibited at the Society of Artists

Society of Artists

The Society of Artists of Great Britain was founded in London in May 1761 by an association of artists in order to provide a venue for the public exhibition of recent work by living artists, such as was having success in the long-established Paris salons....

 in 1768 and showed 330 works at the Academy from 1769 until his death.
In 1770, Russell painted Methodist minister, George Whitefield

George Whitefield

George Whitefield , also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican priest who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain, and especially in the British North American colonies. He was one of the founders of Methodism and of the evangelical movement generally...

 (engraved by James Watson) and philanthropist, William Wilberforce

William Wilberforce

William Wilberforce was a British politician, a philanthropist and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becoming the independent Member of Parliament for Yorkshire...

 - the latter then only eleven years old. In 1771, he exhibited a portrait in oils of Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley was an English leader of the Methodist movement, son of Anglican clergyman and poet Samuel Wesley, the younger brother of Anglican clergyman John Wesley and Anglican clergyman Samuel Wesley , and father of musician Samuel Wesley, and grandfather of musician Samuel Sebastian Wesley...

 at the Royal Academy and, in 1772, painted Selina, Countess of Huntingdon in pastel. This was a symbolic picture, and was lost on its voyage out; but it was engraved, and he was later to paint her in oils also. Also, in that year, he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy. The following year, 1773, he painted John Wesley

John Wesley

John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...

 (engraved by Bland).

In 1788, after a long wait, Russell was elected a royal academician

Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...

, in the same year painting a portrait of the naturalist Sir Joseph Banks. In 1789, he was commissioned to portray the royal physician Francis Willis. The results obviously pleased the monarch as, in 1790, he was appointed Crayon (pastel) Painter to King George III

George III of the United Kingdom

George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...

, Queen Charlotte, the Prince of Wales (both of whom Russell also painted) and the Duke of York. With such royal patronage, he developed a large and fashionable clientele.

Russell was a man of deep religious beliefs, a devout follower of George Whitefield

George Whitefield

George Whitefield , also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican priest who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain, and especially in the British North American colonies. He was one of the founders of Methodism and of the evangelical movement generally...

. He began an elaborate introspective diary in John Byrom

John Byrom

John Byrom or John Byrom of Kersal or John Byrom of Manchester FRS was an English poet and inventor of a revolutionary system of shorthand. He is also remembered as the writer of the lyrics of Anglican hymn Christians Awake, salute the happy morn.- Early life :John Byrom was descended from an old...

's shorthand in 1766 and continued it to the time of his death. In it, he recorded his own mental condition and religious exercises, and occasionally information concerning his sitters. Though his religion appears to have become less militant after his marriage, his diary bears witness to his anxiety with regard to his spiritual welfare. Not only would he not work on Sunday, but he would allow no one to enter his painting-room. He was afraid to go out to dinner on account of the loose and blasphemous conversation which he might hear. He was on good terms with Sir Joshua Reynolds

Joshua Reynolds

Sir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA was an influential 18th-century English painter, specialising in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was one of the founders and first President of the Royal Academy...

, with whom he dined at the academy, the Dilettanti Society, and the Literary Club (now The Club), but he records that on these or other festive occasions he always left early.

Russell was also interested in astronomy

Astronomy

Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...

 (he was a friend of Sir William Herschel

William Herschel

Sir Frederick William Herschel, KH, FRS, German: Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel was a German-born British astronomer, technical expert, and composer. Born in Hanover, Wilhelm first followed his father into the Military Band of Hanover, but emigrated to Britain at age 19...

), and made, with the assistance of his daughter, a lunar map, which he engraved on two plates which formed a globe showing the visible surface of the moon - it took twenty years to finish. He also invented an apparatus for exhibiting the phenomena of the moon, which he called "Selenographia".

He was troubled by ill-health for much of his life and in 1803, became almost deaf following a bout of cholera

Cholera

Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...

. He died in Hull

Kingston upon Hull

Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...

 in 1806 after contracting typhus

Typhus

Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...

.

Russell's work can be viewed at many galleries in the UK and around the world, but the largest collection is held by Guildford House

Guildford House

Guildford House is a historic house at 155 High Street, Guildford, Surrey, England. Built in 1660, it is currently a municipal museum and art gallery...

 Art Gallery in Guilford. Many of his portraits were engraved

Engraving

Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...

 by artists such Joseph Collyer

Joseph Collyer

Joseph Collyer , also called Joseph Collyer the Younger, was an English engraver; associate of the Royal Academy and portrait engraver to the British Queen Consort, Queen Charlotte.-Life and work:...

, Charles Turner (engraver)

Charles Turner (engraver)

Charles Turner was an English mezzotint engraver and draughtsman. Through his mother's influence he had access to the famous gallery at Blenheim Palace...

, James Heath

James Heath (engraver)

James Heath was an English engraver. He enjoyed the patronage of George III and successive monarchs, and was an associate engraver of the Royal Academy.-Life and work:...

, Dean, Bartolozzi

Francesco Bartolozzi

Francesco Bartolozzi was an Italian engraver, whose most productive period was spent in London.He was born in Florence...

, Trotter and others.

Family

Of his twelve sons, William Russell (1780–1870), exhibited portraits at the Royal Academy from 1805 to 1809. The National Portrait Gallery contains a portrait of Judge Sir John Bailey by him. He was ordained in 1809, and gave up painting. He was forty years rector of Shepperton

Shepperton

Shepperton is a town in the borough of Spelthorne, Surrey, England. To the south it is bounded by the river Thames at Desborough Island and is bisected by the M3 motorway...

, Middlesex

Middlesex

Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...

, and died on 14 September 1870.

External links

• John Russell online (Artcyclopedia)
• Portrait of a Boy with Toy Gun (Hargrave Fine Art)