Russell was born in
Guildford,
Surrey, the son of John Russell Snr., book and print seller and four 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, and soon showed a strong inclination for art. He trained under
Francis Cotes RA (of
Cavendish Square, London), one of the pioneers of English pastel painting, and, like Cotes, was an admirer of the pastel drawings of
Rosalba Carriera whose methods influenced his technique of "sweetening". At the age of 19 he converted to
Methodism, which was the cause of tension with his family and with his 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, whose portrait he painted in 1768. He was introduced to
Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, who unsuccessfully attempted to persuade him to give up painting and attend her Methodist ministers' training college at
Trevecca in Wales. On 5 February 1770, he married Hannah Faden, daughter of a
Charing Cross print and map seller, whom he had converted. They lived at No. 7
Mortimer Street, Cavendish Square, where he had moved in 1770. In 1771, he exhibited a portrait in oils of
Charles 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 later also painted her in oils. Also in that year he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy. The following year, 1773, he painted
John Wesley (engraved by Bland). In 1788, after a long wait, Russell was elected a
royal academician, 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, 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. ."He showed the moon at seventeen or eighteen days, but in doing so added an oblique – and impossible – source of illumination. Under the resulting raking light all the variations of the moon's surface are thrown into greater relief." Russell was a man of deep religious beliefs, a devout follower of George Whitefield. He began an elaborate introspective diary in
John Byrom'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, 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. He was troubled by ill-health for much of his life, and in 1803 became almost deaf following a bout of
cholera. He died in
Hull in 1806 after contracting
typhus. 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 Art Gallery in
Guildford. Many of his portraits were engraved by, amongst others,
Joseph Collyer,
Charles Turner,
James Heath, Dean,
Bartolozzi and Trotter. ==Astronomy==