How you can use this image

This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).

Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.

The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.

Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.

Notes

Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.

Grandson of the Liberal Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister, Earl (Lord John) Russell, he published his first work, An Essay on the Foundations of Geometry (1897), at the age of 25. This was followed by The Principles of Mathematics (1903) and Principia Mathematica (1910–1913). A pacifist during the First World War, he was imprisoned in 1918. Russell gave the first Reith lectures on radio in 1949. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950, and became the first President of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) in 1958.
Subdued in palette and the handling of paint, Fry's portrait is notable for its clarity, directness and understatement. These qualities seem appropriate for a likeness of a philosopher who admired the 'supreme beauty' of mathematics – 'cold and austere'.

National Portrait Gallery, London

London

Title

Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell

Date

c.1923

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 54 x W 45.1 cm

Accession number

4832

Acquisition method

Purchased, 1970

Work type

Painting

National Portrait Gallery, London

St Martin’s Place, London, Greater London WC2H 0HE England

This venue is open to the public. Not all artworks are on display. If you want to see a particular artwork, please contact the venue.

View venue

Artist or maker

Roger Eliot Fry

1866–1934

View profile

Charles Percy Sanger (1871–1930), Barrister Trinity College, University of Cambridge
Envy Castle High School and Visual Arts College
St Tropez St Hilda's College, University of Oxford
Studland Bay, Dorset Touchstones Rochdale
A Provençal Harbour Glasgow Museums Resource Centre (GMRC)
Roquebrune and Monte Carlo from Palm Beach Glasgow Museums Resource Centre (GMRC)
Geoffrey Whitworth (1883–1951) Victoria and Albert Museum
117 more