PORTRAIT OF JOHN SCOTT RUSSELL, SEATED, SURVEYING A SHIPYARD

JOHN SCOTT RUSSELL (1808-1882), ONE OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED NAVAL ARCHITECTS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, MADE A PARTICULAR STUDY OF THE NATURE OF WAVES FOR WHICH HE RECEIVED WIDESPREAD ACCLAIM AND RECOGNITION. HE DESIGNED AND BUILT THE WAVE - THE FIRST VESSEL CONSTRUCTED ON THE WAVE SYSTEM - PRIOR TO ESTABLISHING HIS OWN YARD ON THE THAMES WHICH PRODUCED MANY STEAMSHIPS, MOST NOTABLY BRUNEL'S ILL-FATED MONSTER THE GREAT EASTERN AS WELL AS THE WORLD'S FIRST SUCCESSFUL IRONCLAD WARSHIP H.M.S. WARRIOR. ONE TIME SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS, RUSSELL WAS ALSO ONE OF THE ROYAL COMMISSIONERS FOR THE 1851 GREAT EXHIBITION, ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE INSTITUTE OF NAVAL ARCHITECTS AND A PROLIFIC AUTHOR OF TECHNICAL WORKS ON SHIPBUILDING.