Lot Essay
The identification with the great naturalist Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820) is based on both circumstantial evidence and similarities to known portraits of Banks, including another pastel by Russell exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1788, no.420 (see G.C. Williamson and Lord R. Gowes, John Russell, R.A., 1894, p.137). Russell was on friendly terms with Banks from 1774, when he addressed a letter to him 'Dear Banks', and did portraits not only of Sir Joseph but also two of Lady Banks in 1789, and companion pictures of Sir Joseph's mother Mrs. Banks, his sister-in-law Mary Hugessen, and his sister the eccentric Miss Sophia Banks (see Williamson and Gower, op. cit., pp.35-7, 137-8)
Russell and Banks also had certain scientific interests in common. Russell worked for many years from 1785 onwards on making a lunar map, producing in connection with this two circular drawings, engraved plates, and an apparatus he called the Selenographia, patented in 1797, for exhibiting the phenomenon of the moon; Banks owned two copies of the pamphlet explaining this machine and Russell's 1788 pastel shows him holding one of the plates.
As well as the other Russell pastel particularly telling likenesses in this context are the full-length portrait of Banks done some years earlier, circa 1771-3, by Benjamin West and now in the Usher Art Gallery, Lincoln (see H. von Erffa and A. Staley, The Paintings of Benjamin West, 1986, p. 487 no. 586, repr. p.29), the three-quarter length portrait of 1810 by Thomas Phillips in the National Portrait Gallery, and the marble bust of 1818 by Sir Francis Chantrey at Petworth House. Sir Joseph Banks sailed to the South Seas on the Endeavour with Captain Cook from 1768 to 1771; the objects he collected on his voyage are now in the British Museum. He was president of the Royal Society from 1778 until his death in 1820.
Russell and Banks also had certain scientific interests in common. Russell worked for many years from 1785 onwards on making a lunar map, producing in connection with this two circular drawings, engraved plates, and an apparatus he called the Selenographia, patented in 1797, for exhibiting the phenomenon of the moon; Banks owned two copies of the pamphlet explaining this machine and Russell's 1788 pastel shows him holding one of the plates.
As well as the other Russell pastel particularly telling likenesses in this context are the full-length portrait of Banks done some years earlier, circa 1771-3, by Benjamin West and now in the Usher Art Gallery, Lincoln (see H. von Erffa and A. Staley, The Paintings of Benjamin West, 1986, p. 487 no. 586, repr. p.29), the three-quarter length portrait of 1810 by Thomas Phillips in the National Portrait Gallery, and the marble bust of 1818 by Sir Francis Chantrey at Petworth House. Sir Joseph Banks sailed to the South Seas on the Endeavour with Captain Cook from 1768 to 1771; the objects he collected on his voyage are now in the British Museum. He was president of the Royal Society from 1778 until his death in 1820.