Russell John

Poet of East Clandon

A print published by W. Faden from an image drawn apparently ‘from life’ by John Russell of this well-known local character. This is almost a caricature with his long face and gap tooth. William Faden was the father of Russell’s wife Hannah, and operated the family business from Tottenham Court Road. He obviously collaborated with his son-in-law to produce popular prints.

Dr Samuel Villiese of Worplesdon

John Russell depicted this local man, Dr Villiese in a simple coat and felt hat rather than the elegant society costume of the time. This portrait is also known by the title “The Quack Doctor of Worplesdon”. The Doctor is pointing his rather grubby finger to the label on a bottle of medicine which reads “Take a teacup three times a day.”

Micoc and Tootac : Esquimeaux Indians

Micoc and Tootac are a mother and son, who were brought over to England from Labrador by Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser who had been Governor of Newfoundland from 1764 until 1766. They caused a sensation with London Society and were presented at court, where George III presented Micoc with the medal she is depicted wearing in Russell’s portrait. Micoc’s face, with its contained smile and tattoos, and her beaded decorative earrings would have looked extraordinary to most western eyes. Russell was particularly interested in character in his portraiture and had a special gift for bringing his models to life; Micoc sits confidently, presenting her medal to the viewer with a contained smile, her son, Tootac, shyly cuddling up to his mother, adding a very warm human touch. The emphasis is very much on Micoc. This painting was purchased by Guildford House gallery for the Borough Collection, with the help of the Friends of Guildford House, the National Art Collection Fund and the Victoria and Albert Museum Purchase Grant Fund in 1997.

Judith

1789 This pastel portrait is of Judith, John Russell’s sister-in-law. This picture is signed and dated 1789 and was reproduced as a popular engraving. Russell moved from Guildford to London to further his career as a pastel portrait painter and by 1767 had set-up his own studio. He became friendly with a family by the name of Faden who had a print map business in Tottenham Court Road. There were two daughters in the Faden family, Judith and Hannah. After some family opposition, during which he apparently had long discussions with Judith, John Russell married Hannah at St Mary le Bow in 1770. This is a beautifully grateful portrait, with Judith depicted as the epitome of late 18th century beauty with soft drapes, her hair in ringlets and bare flesh. She holds her hand delicately to her heart, which seems to indicate that she is thinking about love. The Friends of Guildford House presented Guildford House Gallery with this picture as a Millennium gift.

Portrait of a lady

1780s The subject of the painting is a young woman in a white dress with a chalk or charcoal holder in her right hand and leaning on her sketch with her left. She is anonymous but it is interesting to speculate that she might be one of the artist’s daughters, Ann or Maria, as there is a resemblance to other portraits of his daughters that he produced. Guildford Borough Council purchased this pastel by John Russell in 2000 with help from The Friends of Guildford House.

Rembrandt 1639

Mrs Russell nee Baines

1799 Elizabeth Baines (1770-1822) married David Russell (1774-1840) who was an attorney at law in York This portrait and its pair were kindly donated by Mr David Russell and his sister, descendants of the Russells in the portraits. There is no family connection between the subjects of the paintings and the artist himself.

Hon Henrietta Rice

This is a photolithographic print of an original which is in a private collection, along with its pair, Hon. Edward Rice.

Market Cross Chichester

This drawing is in pencil with pink, grey and yellow washes in watercolour. It appears to have been made from a first floor window and may have been used for a later painting which is now unknown. Russell’s skill as a draftsman is well illustrated in this drawing and it is interesting to see his colour or tonal notes on some of the buildings for reference. This drawing had been in the collection of the Russell family until 1981. Purchased for the Guildford Borough Collection with help from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund and finance from the donations box in Guildford House.

Rev G Wollaston

George Wollaston, DD, FRS, was born on 26 February 1738 and died at Richmond on 14 February 1826. He was educated at Sydney Sussex College, Cambridge. He married Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of Charles Palmer, a banker of Turnscoe Hall, Yorks. He was Rector of St. Mary’s Aldermary with St Thomas the Apostle, London from 1774-1790. This may have been one of a pair of portraits, the other being his wife. The Rev. Wollaston is wearing the black and clerical clothing of the late 18th century. Purchased for the Guildford Borough Collection with help from the MGC/V&A Purchase Grant Fund and donations to Guildford House Gallery

Unknown Gentleman 1795

This striking portrait of an unknown gentleman has an uncharacteristic dramatic sunset; Russell’s portraits usually have much more subdued backgrounds. As a man of fashion he does not wear the obsolete wig, but has powdered his own hair. Guildford Borough Council purchased this pastel by John Russell in 1983 with help from the Friends of Guildford House and the Beecroft Bequest.

Harvest Girl

Russell excelled in child portraiture and this charming pastel portrait of “The Harvest Girl” is one of a pair, the other being the “Girl with the Basket of Eggs”. They were both exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1780/81 and are both in the Guildford Borough Collection. Many of Russell’s portraits of children were known as ‘fancy’ pictures and a selection were reproduced as prints.

Girl with a basket of eggs

One of a pair of ‘fancy pictures’ – the other being Harvest Girl. This painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1781.

Judith

Print of the original, also in the Guildford Borough Collection

Mr Seaton cabinet maker

In this portrait, which conveys a solid and fairly robust character, Mr Seaton is wearing a jacket with velvet lapels and brass buttons, both features typical of the late 1700s. So acute was Russell’s attention to detail, he even included the powder from Seaton’s hair on the collar of his jacket. Mr Seaton was a carver and gilder working from 40 Oxford Street, London around 1790. He may have made frames for John Russell as he lived very close to the artist’s first home. It is possible that some of the frames for the Russell pictures in the Guildford Borough Collection are original and made by him.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Born in Ireland, the son of Thomas Sheridan an actor and author, the sitter became well known as a playwright, producing ‘The Rivals’ at Covent Garden in 1775. He acquired Garrick’s share in the Drury Lane Theatre in 1776 and became it manager, whiles still writing plays such as ‘The School for Scandal’, which he put on the following year. He achieved great success but was very profligate with its rewards and I 1780, he turned to politics to stave off financial ruin. He attained celebrity as a parliamentary orator, culminating in a six hour speech on the impeachment of Warren Hastings and became a close friend and advisor to the Prince of Wales.

Dr Willis

Dr Francis Willis (1718-1807) was a physician born on 17 August 1718 and was the third son of John Willis, one of the vicars of Lincoln Cathedral. Dr Willis was famous for curing George III of his madness in 1788. He lived in, and maintained, a private asylum at Greatford Hall. He was one of the foremost physicians of his day in the treatment of “Persons of distinction and respectability” and the King was his most illustrious patient. His mental hospital was later transferred to Shillingthorpe Hall, a mile away, built in 1833 for his son John, but this building was demolished in 1949. There is a monument to Dr Willis, a Nollekens bust, in the transept of the church of St. Thomas a Becket which stands nearby. He lived to be almost 90 and was laid to rest there in 1807, but by then the king had been cured a second time by the doctor’s two sons, John and Robert Willis.

Famous Poet of East Clandon John Woolderidge

Jane Shore

Dorothea Jordan

1792 Dorothea Jordan (also known as Dora and Dorothy) (1762-1816) was a highly popular actress on the London stage. She was also famous for being mistress for 20 years to the Duke of Clarence (later King William IV) , having a number of illegitimate children with him. Dorothea Jordan was born in Ireland, Dorothea Bland, and came to England and changed her name to Mrs Jordan. In 1785 she was engaged by the Drury Lane Theatre and found great success as a comedy actress. She and the Duke lived together at Bushy House, near Hampton Court where their ten children - the Fitzclarences – were born, but Dorothea never gave up her career. As well as being widely regarded as very attractive, she also had a warm personality. William Hazlitt, the essayist wrote: Her smile had the effect of sunshine and her laugh did one good to hear. The poet Lord Byron described her with one word: Superb. This pastel portrait was painted when Mrs Jordan was aged 29 and at the height of her fame, playing at the King’s Theatre, Haymarket, during the rebuilding of the Drury Lane Theatre.

Rebekha Gines (Mrs Langston)

One of two sisters painted by John Russell in 1801. Rebekha married the Rev. Stephen Langston, eldest son of Sir Stephen Langston and lived in Buckinghamshire. A beautifully executed study of a young woman with good use made of colour contrasts.

Mohammet Summy

This pastel portrait is of Mohamet Summy, thought to be a foreign ambassador in London. This painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1787. His splendid silk robes and turban are sumptuously depicted, as is the long string of natural pearls around his neck. His Eastern features are delicately portrayed and even after two hundred years, Russell’s rich colouring remains.

Mrs Russell and child

Russell executed this charming pastel sketch two years after his marriage to Hannah Faden, one of the daughters of the Faden family, with whom he became friendly when he moved to London. The child that Mrs Russell is holding is probably their first son, John William, who was born in 1770. He went abroad to Jamaica in 1789 and sadly was never heard of again.

Rev. Henry Watkins

John Russell painted this portrait in 1805 for the Rector who was a personal friend. The Rector recorded in his diary “When the portrait was brought home and placed on a settee, a little favourite dog rushed into the room, put his paws against the glass and licked the face of the picture” (Williamson, John Russell R.A. 1894 p.168) On Russell’s death in Hull in 1806, the Rector preached a sermon at the memorial service held in London at St Swithin’s, the church Russell regularly attended. Guildford Borough Council purchased this oil by John Russell in 1985, with help from the Friends of Guildford House and the Beecroft Bequest.

Man in Blue Coat

This pastel portrait is of an unknown gentleman wearing a blue coat. It is signed and dated, and was produced in the same year that ‘Judith’ was painted.

Male Portrait

Purchased in 1988

Girl with basket of flowers

This charming half-length portrait shows a little girl holding onto her bonnet carrying a basket of flowers. These kinds of portraits were known as ‘fancy pictures’, a rather sentimental style derived from the paintings of artists such as Gainsborough. Details of the sitter are not known. Guildford Borough Council purchased this pastel by John Russell in 1989, with help from the MGC/V&A Museum Purchase Grant Fund.

John Webbe Weston of Sutton Place

1788 A commissioned portrait of a local landowner. A respectable confident well-heeled gentleman is the image presented. Russell retains his youthful looks belying his probable age of 35. John Webbe was the son of Thomas and Ann Webbe of Fulham. The sitter inherited Sutton Place near Guildford in 1782 on the condition that he take the name and arms of Weston. So he changed his name to Webbe Weston and owned the estate for 41 years. During this time he made many alterations and additions to the house. John Webbe Weston died suddenly in Hereford in 1823; he is buried in Hereford but Elizabeth, his first wife, is buried in Holy Trinity Churchyard, Guildford

A chorister

This boy chorister may have been from one of the grander chapels or churches in London. Surpliced choirs were rare at the end of the 18th century. The chorister sings from a book in which the treble part has been written out individually. Guildford Borough Council purchased this pastel by John Russell in 1993, with held from the Friends of Guildford House and the Beecroft Bequest.

Mrs Carruthers

This half-length portrait shows the sitter wearing a white dress and rust coloured shawl.

Girl with pig

This portrait features a young country girl holding a pig.

Lady seated in a gothic chamber

1799 This portrait is particularly interesting because a Gothic window can be clearly seen in the background. Unfortunately we have no further details on the picture and do not know the identity of the sitter. The sitter’s skin tones are very good and the sash is a bright pink having kept its colour for more than 200 years. This portrait was purchased for the Guildford Borough Collection in 1996 with help from the Beecroft Bequest.

A Bacchante

c1790s This portrait has a very rare subject for Russell’s work of a semi nude girl, thought to depict a Baccante. This portrait was purchased for the Guildford Borough Collection with the help of MGC/V&A Purchase Grant Fund.

David Russell

1799 David Russell (1774-1840) was an attorney at law in York and married Elizabeth Baines (1770-1822). This portrait and its pair were kindly donated by Mr David Russell and his sister, descendants of the Russells in the portraits. There is no family connection between the subjects of the paintings and the artist himself.

Mrs Jeremy Dixon of York

This half-length portrait shows an elderly woman sat spinning, wearing a cap and shawl. It is difficult to identify Mrs Jeremy Dixon with any certainty since there would in 1802, have been at least two candidates of the same name. She may have been the wife of Jeremiah Dixon, and daughter of Revd Henry Wickham, rector of Guiseley, who died in 1807, aged 73. Or she may have been the daughter of John Smeaton, an engineer who built the Eddystone lighthouse, and married Jeremiah Dixon’s second son, also called Jeremiah, who became Mayor of Leeds in 1784. Guildford Borough Council purchased this pastel by John Russell in 1987, with help from the MGC/V&A Museum Purchase Grant Fund.

Lady with her child

This signed three-quarter length portrait shows a young mother wearing a fashionably low-cut white dress seated elegantly at a piano with her child by her side. The sitters are unknown but the sheet music on the piano could provide a clue. It is possible that the child is a boy rather than a girl as both sexes wore dresses when infants in this period. The child, like its mother, displays a fashionable bare neckline. Guildford Borough Council purchased this oil in 1990 with assistance from the MGC/V&A Purchase Grant Fund.

North West Prospect of Guildford

This engraving depicts the lower end of the High Street. It is of particular interest as it shows the layout of what appears to be a private Guildford Garden. Judging by its position, it could have belonged to the Friary, although it is possible that it was part of the grounds of another prosperous house nearby.

Tom and his pigeons

Tom was the youngest son of John and Hannah Russell and was often painted by his father. Tom aged about six, holding up his basket of pet pigeons away from the interest of the cat. As was common at the time, boys wore dresses until the age of six or seven years when they were then formally put into breeches or "breeched".

Rev Thomas Russell

George Abbot

An early drawing by John Russell. It is reported that Russell's talent was discovered about the age of twelve or thirteen, when he was staying with a friend in London. The story goes that John Russell very much liked an etching of a man he saw in a print shop window in Long Acre and that, after obtaining this through his friend, Russell copied it again and again. He did so very accurately and with notable care.

Susan Gines (Mrs Barber)

Susan Gines was the sister of Rebekha Gines, and the daughter of Sir Stephen Gines. Like her sister, Susan was an heiress. Both Sisters (the portrait of Rebekha is also in the Borough Collection) are depicted wearing similar white dresses with a slight pink sash. The black shawl may have been a deliberate choice, however, perhaps to veil Susan's ampler proportions.

John Russell Snr

This portrait is of the artist's father, also called John Russell.

The Artist's Uncle

This portrait is thought to be of the artist's uncle as there is a strong family resemblence.

Judge Garrow and his Children

Tom and his pigeons - print

Portrait of Mr Wilson

Portrait of Mrs Wilson