Portrait of John Russell, First Earl of Bedford, 1739

A portrait of John Russell, first Earl of Bedford (1485-1555), by Jacobus Houbraken, 1739. 

The engraving depicts an older white male dressed in black cloak and livery collar, with a black cap and long beard. He is placed centrally, looking to the left, within an ornate oval frame topped by a crown. Imagery surrounding the frame includes a cherub on the bottom right, and an anchor and helmet on the bottom left.

John Russell travelled widely before obtaining a position of some influence at the court of King Henry VII, and later King Henry VIII. He was at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520, and lost his right eye during the siege of Morlaix in 1522. He was made Knight Marshall of the Royal Household before becoming Comptroller in 1537, and a Privy Councillor in 1538. He was then made Lord High Admiral, High Steward of the Duchy of Cornwall and a Knight of the Garter. He served as High Steward of the University of Oxford, and as Keeper of the Privy Seal, in 1542. He retained the latter office during the reign of Edward VI, and in 1549 his efforts against the rebels at Clyst St. Mary helped to quell the Western Rebellion. The following year, he was created the first Earl of Bedford. After opposing the "device" for the succession of King Edward VI he was again made Lord Privy Seal by Queen Mary I, and assisted in the marriage treaty between the Queen and King Philip II of Spain. Soon after his return to London, he died. His only son, Francis, succeeded to his title.

The artist, Jacob (Jacobus) Houbraken, was the leading portrait engraver in eighteenth-century Holland. This particular portrait was included in the 1743 publication ‘The Heads of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain, Engraven by Mr. Houbraken, and Mr. Vertue, With Their Lives and Characters by Thomas Birch, A.M. F.R.S.’ Listed in the contents page as ‘John Russel [sic], first Earl of Bedford, Lord Privy Seal’, page 17, the portrait is accompanied by two pages of biographical text, describing him as a “person of middle stature, vigorous, and graceful, and accomplished with all the advantages suitable to a court.”

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