Art and Astronomy in the Service of Religion Observations on the Work of John Russell (1745–1806)

Abstract

John Russell’s lunar images have so far been neglected and misunderstood by both historians of art and of astronomy. On the one hand this is due to the fact that the images do not come within many current definitions of the notion of art, particularly when the function of art is seen as an agency of subjective experience. Ironically, the reverse of this argument explains why historians of astronomy neglected Russell’s moon images. Compared with the more technical look of lunar maps, equipped with latitude and longitude grids as well as legends, Russell’s ‘photo-realistic’ pastels came across as works of art. They were therefore neglected because of their very nature, their double identity combining aspects from both art and astronomy. On the other hand, the moon images have to be seen in the context of Russell’s life and as more than just the work of an artist and astronomer, but also as the work of a Methodist. Russell’s lifelong devotion to Methodism is well known. Never before, however, has this pivotal attitude of the artist towards religion been taken into account in connection with the study of his moon images. In my paper I argue that Russell was part of the movement that attempted to unite nature and religion in the late eighteenth century. While prominent artists such as William Blake argued that nature was the work of the devil and to study it was blasphemy, Russell shared his beliefs with other evangelicals who saw the study of nature in no contradiction with God at all. In fact, Russell actively searched for proof of God’s part in the creation of the world and His presence within it. This association between God and nature has been termed natural theology and peaked in the late seventeenth century, with the work of Isaac Newton himself. I attempt to show that Russell conducted years of astronomical study, leading to the moon pastels, out of religious motivation. This contextualisation of Russell’s work within the tradition that believed in the ‘God of Nature’, will, I hope, explain the previously unsolved puzzle of the artist’s incentive to portrait the moon.