Earth and the Elements
JOHN RUSSELL
A portrait pastelist to King
George III of England, and an
astronomer who dedicated
20 years to studying the
Moon. Russell drew this, the
first-ever accurate image of
the Moon's surface, two
engraved maps known as
The Lunar Planispheres, and
a moon globe called the
Selenographia. He also
produced an album of 180
exquisite pencil drawings;
pages of softly illuminated
craters and lunar "seas"
covered in mathematical
and shorthand calculations.
Moon Pastel Drawing
1795
5 ft x 5 ft 6 in (152 x168 cm)
JOHN RUSSELL
I
T MAY SEEM PERVERSE to start a chapter titled "Earth and the Elements" with an image
of the Moon, but it can be seen as a lens to our observation of this planet. It is Earths
satellite, our companion, and its draws the tides of the seas. Just as NASA photographs
of Earth have had a profound effect on the way we view our fragile home, so John
Russell's tour de force drawing (opposite) was a masterpiece of observation in his time.
This is the world's first accurate image of the Moon. It now hangs on the staircase of the
History of Science Museum, Oxford, England, surrounded by the bright instruments of
centuries of navigation, speculation, and experiment. The pastel drawing was constructed
from myriad telescopic observations almost 200 years before the Apollo Moon landing.
The forces of nature, as opposed the physicality of Earth, are the real subjects in
great landscape drawings. Look closely at works by many artists and you will see that
they have not represented hills, trees, rivers, and the sea. What they have drawn is the
force of nature on these properties: how the wind heaves the night ocean; how the
mountain cut by ice and rain is now fleetingly lit; how the soil is scorched, or has
cracked and fallen under the weight of water; and even how the Sun illuminates, and
meteor impacts have scarred, the face of the Moon. By drawing such momentous and
everyday events, artists see for themselves that which is momentary and eternal.
William Turner is said to have had himself lashed to a ship's mast to comprehend the
storm (see p. 199). Richard Long, a contemporary environmental artist, makes his work by
the act of walking, marking the ground with lines of footprints or by turning stones,
arranging them in perfect circles on the mountainside or in lines drifting out of sight
beneath low clouds. There is a sense of the heroic in drawing outside—we race to catch a
form before the tide engulfs it, the sun comes out to blind it, or the wind carries it away.
Weather is essential in all landscape drawing. Beginners will often choose calm,
sunny days, when little stirs and empty blue skies offer even less to latch lines to. These
conditions are very difficult to express well. It is better to get up before dawn; to be
ready to draw the new light as it breaks across the land. Take chances against the rain
and work with the wind or fog; they are the animators of your subject. In this chapter
we experiment with charcoal, learning to draw light out of dark, and take bold steps in
emulating the swell of clouds and the forces of torrential water.
