When the German art historian
Gustav Waagen visited Russell at Eagle House near Enfield, he found the walls "so richly adorned with specimens of the 14th century, that the spectator feels as if transported to a chapel at Siena or Florence." He described Russell as "one of the most enthusiastic admirers of the grandeur and high significance of the ecclesiastic art from the 13th to the 15th century that I met with in England". six of the seven panels from the
predella of
Ugolino da Siena's altarpiece for
Santa Croce in Florence, bought from the sale of the
William Young Ottley collection, Abrecht Altdorfer's
Christ taking Leave of His Mother (National Gallery, London) and Simone Martini's
St Geminianus, St Michael and St Augustine, each with an Angel above (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge) He also had a notable collection of illuminated manuscripts and early printed books. ==Death==