Firmin Massot

Portrait of Jean-Pierre Tournes (1759-1826)

Work on canvas Work re-lined Plaster and gilded wood frame 86 x 105 x 7 cm

Work on canvas Golden wooden frame 68 x 50 x 4 cm

Bartolomeo Schedoni (Modena 1578 - Parma 1615) workshop of Portrait of a child (Alessandro Farnese?) First half 17th century Oil on canvas (95 x 66 cm. - In frame 109 x 80) This i...

This charming British Old Master Regency pastel portrait is attributed to John Russell RA. Painted circa 1790 the composition is a blonde woman in pretty mob cap with a blue ribbon. A really lovely image. Provenance. Oxford estate. Condition. Oil pastel on paper, 23 inches by 19 inches unframed and in good condition but has line in paper in middle. Frame. Housed in a fine frame, 30 inches by 26 inches framed and in good condition. John Russell RA (1745-1806) was an English painter renowned for his portrait work in oils and pastels, and as a writer and teacher of painting techniques. Russell was born in Guildford, Surrey, the son of John Russell Snr., book and print seller and five 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...