John Russell

Susannah Maria Milward

Susannah Maria Milward by John Russell

Artwork Detail

This portrait of Susanna Maria Milward is a typical example of the bust-length portrait type in which John Russell, Britain’s foremost pastel artist, excelled, and for which he charged a standard fee of 30 guineas. Russell shows her wearing the dreamy orientalist muslins and turban of the Romantic style around 1800. To offset the gauzy softness he has completed the drawing with some energetic almost graffito (scratched) lines. Heaped with accolades at home and abroad, Russell held the titles of official ‘crayon painter' to the Prince of Wales in 1785, to George III from 1790, and to the Duke of York from 1792. Unlike his highborn and fashionable clientele, Russell was a fanatically religious Methodist and lived a reclusive life in fear of contamination by society’s vices.

Title
Susannah Maria Milward
Artist/creator
John Russell
Production date
1799
Medium
pastel on paper
Dimensions
600 x 450 mm
Credit line
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased with funds from the Molly Morpeth Canaday fund, 2022
Accession no
2022/5/2
Copyright
No known copyright restrictions
Department
International Art
Display status
Not on display

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