A beautifully detailed angling painting of Salmon and Trout by John Bucknell Russell. The fish are depicted alongside a fisherman’s reel and basket in a landscape setting.

John Bucknell Russell was born around 1820, the son of Joseph Russell, a Confectioner and Jane Fraser. Although born in Edinburgh, he grew up in Aberdeen where his Mother was from. His father died when he was young and his mother found work as a dressmaker to make ends meet. Whilst little is known about his education, records show he initially found work as a house painter, most likely to help the family finances. However, by his early twenties he had become an artist and lithographer and began specialising in paintings of fish and angling scenes.

He married Margaret Bennet in 1850 and together they lived in Dumbarton where they had two children. However, their happiness was short lived when his wife died of TB in 1855. In 1861, he married Isabella Craigen and had a further 6 children. Three of his children, Charles Russell from his first marriage and Isabella (Dhuie) and James Russell from his second, also became artists.

Russell began exhibiting at the Royal Scottish Academy from 1863, continuing to exhibit there regularly. By 1868, he was living at 3 Comely Green Crescent in Edinburgh. However, after the death of his second wife Isabella, from smallpox in 1872, he decided to move his family out of the city to an island in the Forth. He later moved to Spey Cottage in Fochabers, on the river Spey and located near to the Castle Gordon Estate. There he set up a studio at 16 West Street and found a ready supply of work, receiving commissions from the Duke of Richmond and Gordon, the owner of Castle Gordon as well as his guests during the hunting and sporting seasons. Lord Lovatt of Inverness was also one of his patrons.

He was a skilled wood carver and often carved accurate models of Spey salmon which his daughter would then paint. In addition to angling scenes, he also painted sporting and wildlife scenes and produced a number of pieces for churches. He continued to exhibit throughout his later life and won a gold medal at the Aberdeen Exhibition of 1884. He also exhibited abroad in Sydney.

He spent his final years living at 12 Diamond Street, Fochabers where he later died on 4th May, 1893. Examples of his work can be found at The Falconer Museum, National Trust for Scotland and the Usher Gallery.

© Benton Fine Art