This large mid-17th-century three-quarter length portrait attributed to English artist John Hayls (c.1600-1679) depicts the honourable Edward Russell (1625-1665).Hayls was a prominent English portraitist, draughtsman, and miniaturist working during the tumult of the British Baroque period. He lived through two civil wars, Oliver Cromwell’s joyless Protectorate, and Charles II’s Restoration. A direct competitor of court-favourite Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680), he offered a pared-down alternative to the Dutchman’s grandiosity.Scant details exist relating to his youth, but according to the antiquary, Richard Symonds (1617-1660), he probably trained under the portraitist Michiel van Mierevelt (1566-1641) at The Hague. Symonds documented how Hayls had mastered a technique of preparing vermilion following Mierevelt’s advice.Very few examples of his early works are recorded but it’s possible that he was initially taken under the wing of a more established painter - in much the same w...