John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (1792-1878) Prime Minister and author

  • Start Zooming
  • Image of John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (1792-1878) Prime Minister and author
  • About the work

    Carlo Marochetti’s marble sculpture of Lord John Russell was made in 1858 during a period when Russell had temporarily retreated from political life to pursue his literary interests.

    When this work was exhibited at the Royal Academy, London, in 1858, a reviewer writing for the ‘Wells Journal’ referred to it as ‘a strikingly true bust of Lord John Russell’.

  • About the artist
    Born in Turin, sculptor Carlo Marochetti, Baron Marochetti first trained in Paris. During the 1820s he exhibited in Turin and at the Paris Salon (1827). His public commissions include sculptural reliefs for the Arc de Triomphe and La Madeleine church, Paris. He was best-known for historical subjects and figures but failed to complete an equestrian statue of Napoleon for the Emperor’s tomb at Les Invalides, Paris (1842). Marochetti moved to England in 1848, receiving commissions for portraits of Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1859-61) and Robert Stephenson (1861). Although not officially appointed as Court sculptor, his many royal commissions include the tomb of Victoria and Prince Albert at Frogmore. He was elected a Royal Academician in 1866.
  • Explore
  • Details
    Title
    John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (1792-1878) Prime Minister and author
    Date
    1858
    Medium
    Marble bust
    Dimensions
    height: 71.50 cm, width: 51.00 cm
    Acquisition
    Purchased from the Clarendon Gallery, February 1986
    Inscription
    none
    Provenance
    Collection of Mrs Gilbert Russell (died 1982); with Clarendon Gallery; from whom purchased by the Government Picture Collection in February 1986
    GAC number
    16477