Painter Adeline Maud Russell was born in Cumberland, England, and studied at the Kensington Art School and then with Sir Hubert von Herkomer. There she met the landscape painter Willem van Schaik, whom she married in 1908 and went to live in Hilversum. She specialized in painting landscapes, figures and portraits and especially flowers and flower still lifes. Until 1927, the painter lived and worked alternately in England and Holland.