John Russell – Why He Should Grab Your Attention Too

Published on: 26 Aug, 2017
Updated on: 30 Aug, 2017

John Russell RA – self portrait

By Nicholas Bale

Guildford’s history is not awash with famous sons. Some may be aware of George Abbot who became archbishop of Canterbury but there is another local character who made his mark on the national stage, John Russell (1745–1806).

So when I saw that one of the items on show at Guildford Museum’s current Take a Closer Look exhibition was his box of pastels it grabbed my attention.

Russell was one of the foremost British artists in 18th century who came from Guildford. Even though, as the chairman of the Friends of Guildford Museum, who is more familiar with its collection than most, I had no idea it included his original pastels.

In his time John Russell was as fashionable as Sir Joshua Reynolds, and he charged similar fees! He painted pastel portaits of the royal family and was appointed Crayon (pastel) Painter to King George III, Queen Charlotte, the Prince of Wales (both of whom Russell painted) and the Duke of York. But it was the wealthy middle classes, who were the mainstay of his work.

John Russell’s pastels currently exhibited at Guildford Museum – photo courtesy of Guildford Borough Council ©, Heritage Services

And he was a prolific worker: he produced over 300 portraits during his lifetime which have become well distributed.

Almost fifty are used as illustrations of 18th century society figures on Wikipedia. The National Portrait Gallery has over 100 of his works. Locally, his paintings are on display in the Guildhall and in Abbot’s Hospital. Guildford Borough Council has one of the best collections which are exhibited from time to time.

John Russell – portrait: Lady Holding a Book

It is interesting that the pastels in the exhibition are in powder form, three colours together with a container of a cotton-wool like material that he would have used to paint with, as well as using his fingers. Russell was renowned for the “beautiful and tender” tints that he used to dazzling effect, especially for female subjects.

He was clearly a strong character “completely lacking in modesty” according to one source. Apart from painting, he was interested in mathematics and astronomy.  Some of his best portraits were of the era’s acclaimed scientists, such as his friend William Herschel, who he depicted holding a stellar chart showing his discovery of Uranus.

It was Herschel who provided the powerful telescope that Russell used for his painstaking lunar observations. He used his artist’s powers of observation to create precise diagrams of the surface of the moon, a project that took almost twenty years.

The Face of the Moon – John Russell

Although his studio and home were in London, Russell remained close to his family in Guildford and he had many friends here.

One of these was the experimental scientist James Price, who claimed to have converted mercury into gold and conducted several public demonstrations of this procedure at his laboratory in Guildford. Tragically, Price took his own life when challenged to demonstrate his experiment in front of witnesses from the Royal Society.

John Russell, himself, died aged 63 whilst travelling in the North East of England to paint more portraits.

Rural Employment – featuring two daughters of Russell’s, Anne and Maria

If you would like to learn more, John Russell is one of the local artists that feature in the Art and Artist tour that is led by Guildford Town Guides (contact the Tourist Information Centre on: 01483 44433 or visit: www.guildfordwalks.org.uk for details).

There are a lot of interesting objects on display in this exhibition. Guildford Dragon reporter David Rose will be talking about another one of these, a pot of hair-restorer, on Tuesday, August 29 at 1pm at the Guildford Museum. What has he discovered about this, I wonder?

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