Write a commentA portrait of Newry born Charles Russell (Lord Russell of Killowen) by the American painter, John Singer Sargent is to be offered at Bonhams 19th Century European, Victorian and British Impressionist Art sale in London on Wednesday 1 March.
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It is estimated to sell circa £60k-£80k
Born a Catholic in Newry in 1832, Russell enjoyed great success as a solicitor and barrister in both Ireland and England, and was regarded as the finest advocate of his age. In 1888-89, he successfully defended the Protestant Charles Stewart Parnell against false allegations that he had condoned the Phoenix Park Killings, in which the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Lord Frederick Cavendish, and the Permanent Under-Secretary for Ireland Thomas Burke were stabbed to death in 1882 by supporters of Irish Independence.
Russell entered Parliament as the Liberal MP for Dundalk, subsequently representing Hackney South in London. He was a close associate of the Liberal leader Gladstone and a fellow supporter of Home Rule for Ireland as, indeed, was Parnell. Knighted in 1886, Russell was appointed as Attorney General the same year during Gladstone’s short lived third premiership. He returned to the post in the Gladstone administration of 1892 -94 before being raised to the peerage in 1894 as Baron Killowen, and appointed as Lord Chief Justice of England, the first Catholic to hold the post.
Sargent’s impressive portrait was painted in 1900, the year of Russell’s sudden death and is being sold with the painter’s correspondence with the sitter. It has been in the Russell family ever since. Another version of the Sargent portrait hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Bonhams Director of 19th Century Paintings, Charles O’Brien, said, “Russell was a key figure in political, legal and diplomatic life in the last quarter of the 19th century when Britain was arguably at the height of her global standing. Sargent’s use of contrasting light and dark creates an image of a strong, capable, rather stern man, that perfectly conveys Russell’s great eminence.”
