A full-length portrait turned fully to the right, with the head looking back towards the viewer over the right shoulder. Russell wears a breastplate over a rust-coloured coat and a full-bottomed brown wig. He has buckled shoes and his left hand rests on a stone plinth beside a drape of richly decorated gold material which has either a telescope or commander's baton partly visible on top. He points with his right hand, inviting the viewer's gaze towards the naval action in the distance to the right.

In 1692 Russell was commander-in-chief of the Anglo-Dutch force that fought the French fleet at Barfleur and destroyed much of it at La Hogue. This is the action implied in the portrait. He became First Lord of the Admiralty in 1694, remaining in that post until 1699. He served in the Mediterranean from 1694 to 1695 and was created Baron of Shingay, Viscount Barfleur and Earl of Orford in 1697. The painting is inscribed on the stone plinth on the left.