John Russell, R.A. (Guildford 1745-1806 Hull)

George White, the model for the present work, was a paviour by trade. He was discovered by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) in 1770 and within two years had become one of the most celebrated artists’ models, sitting for Nathaniel Hone (1718-1784), Johann Zoffany (1733-1810) and Russell, for whom he probably sat at the Royal Academy Schools. During the 1770s and 1780s Reynolds painted White more than any other model and his features appear in A Captain of Banditti (1772) and Ugolino and his children in the dungeon (Knole Park, 1773).