William Russell, Lord Russell

1 portrait

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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William Russell, Lord Russell

attributed to Thomas Flatman
watercolour on vellum, circa 1675
2 1/2 in. x 2 in. (64 mm x 51 mm) oval
Transferred from National Gallery, 1994
Primary Collection
NPG 6278

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Thomas Flatman (1635-1688), Miniature painter and poet. Artist or producer associated with 4 portraits, Sitter in 5 portraits.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 540
  • Walker, Richard, Miniatures: 300 Years of the English Miniature, 1998, p. 43 Read entry

    Lord Russell earned his nickname of 'the patriot' from his opposition to the proposed succession of the Roman Catholic James, Duke of York, and to his dread of popery and the general extravagance of the Restoration court. He was executed in Lincoln's Inn Fields for allegedly plotting to murder the king.

    The great age of seventeenth-century portraiture came to its end with a number of minor but nonetheless extremely talented artists. Flatman, a close follower of Cooper, was deemed by George Vertue in his Notebook IV to be 'indeed equal to Hoskins, senior or junior, and next in imitation of Samuel Cooper'.

Subject/Themeback to top

Events of 1675back to top

Current affairs

James Scott, Duke of Monmouth oversees the suppression of the London weavers' riots which break out in the East End against the introduction of mechanised silk looms.
The great fire of Northampton quickly destroys the city. Charles II donates timber for its reconstruction.

Art and science

Charles II founds the Royal Observatory in Greenwich and appoints John Flamsteed the first Astronomer Royal.
Royal approval is given to the 'Warrant' design, Sir Christopher Wren's design for the rebuilding of St. Paul's Cathedral devastated by the Great Fire (1666).

International

A naval campaign into the Mediterranean under the command of Sir John Narbrough, with protégé, Cloudesley Shovell as lieutenant, blockades the port of Tripoli and successfully halts persistent attacks on English merchant ships by North African pirates. A peace treaty is signed with Tripoli in 1676.

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