Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 49.djvu/458

  field's Works, ed. Bradshaw; Stanhope's Hist. of England, ed. 1853. The last three take an unfavourable view of Bedford.] 

RUSSELL, JOHN (1745–1806), portrait-painter, born on 29 March 1745 at 32 High Street, Guildford, was the son of John Russell, book and print seller of Guildford, and five times mayor of that town; the father was something of an artist, and drew and published two views of Guildford. Russell was educated at the Guildford grammar school, and soon showed a strong inclination for art. In 1759 he gained a premium at the Society of Arts. At an early age he was apprenticed by his father to Francis Cotes [q. v.], who lived in Cavendish Square, London. When nineteen years of age he became strongly affected by the religious views of the methodists, and was ‘converted,’ as he records on the title-page of his diary, ‘at about half an hour after seven in the evening’ of 30 Sept. 1764. His evangelical ardour caused disputes with his master and his own family. At home or abroad, in season and out of season, he never ceased from preaching and disputation. He endeavoured to convert as well as paint his sitters, and, while staying with Lord Montague at Cowdray House in 1767, he not only annoyed the household, but excited such ill-feeling among the many Roman catholics of the neighbourhood that, on his return journey, he was refused accommodation at all the inns at Midhurst. He was shortly afterwards, in 1768, the cause of a riot at Guildford. He was now practising art in London on his own account, lodging at Mr. Haley's, watchmaker, John Street, Portland Street, and he formed the acquaintance of the celebrated Dr. William Dodd [q. v.], whose portrait (now in the National Portrait Gallery) he painted in 1768. He was introduced to Selina, countess of Huntingdon [see ], who tried in vain to induce him to give up painting and go to her college at Trevecca. On 5 Feb. 1770 he married Hannah Faden (one of the daughters of a print and map seller at Charing Cross), whom he had ‘converted.’ They lived at No. 7 Mortimer Street, Cavendish Square, whither he had moved (2 Jan. 1770).

By this time he had obtained some reputation by his portraits in coloured crayons. All the pictures mentioned here were, unless otherwise stated, produced in that medium. He formed his style of crayon-painting on that of Rosalba Carriera, whose pictures of ‘The Seasons’ he purchased of the artist. In 1768 he exhibited three portraits at the Incorporated Society of Artists (two in oil and one in crayon), and in 1769 had sent ‘Micoe and her son Tootac’ (Esquimaux Indians, brought over by Commodore, afterwards Sir Hugh, Palliser) to the first exhibition of the Royal Academy. In May of the next year he painted a portrait of George Whitefield, and in December obtained the gold medal of the academy for a large figure of ‘Aquarius’ (now belonging to Mr. H. Webb of Wimbledon, who married one of the artist's grandchildren). In 1770 he painted William Wilberforce, the philanthropist, then eleven years old. The picture is now in the National Portrait Gallery. In 1771 he exhibited at the Royal Academy a portrait in oils of Charles Wesley, which is now at the Wesley Centenary Hall in Bishopsgate Street. In 1772 he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy, and painted the Countess of Huntingdon in pastel, for the orphan home in Georgia. This was a symbolic picture, and was lost on its voyage out; but it was engraved. He afterwards painted her in oil, and this picture is at Cheshunt College. In the following year (1773) he painted John Wesley. This portrait and that of Whitefield are lost, but they were both engraved, the Whitefield by Watson and the Wesley by Bland. 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. He not only would 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, 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.

In 1788, after twelve years' waiting, he was elected a royal academician, and drew an admirable portrait of Sir Joseph Banks in crayons. This and other portraits of the family (Banks's mother, his sister, and his wife) are among his finest works. In 1789 he moved to No. 21 Newman Street, where he resided till his death. In this year he received a commission from George III to paint Dr. Willis, and the king was so pleased with the picture (in crayons) that he commanded him to paint the queen and the prince of Wales. The picture of the queen was exhibited in 1790, in the catalogue of which year Russell is styled ‘Painter to the King and the Prince of Wales.’ In the following year appeared a portrait of the prince and another of ‘Smoaker the Prince of Wales's Bather at Brighton’ (a commission from the prince), and also a portrait of