English collector and director of the Royal Insurance Company.
Charles Butler
1822 - 1910
This person is the subject of ongoing research. We have started by researching their relationship to the enslavement of people.
Biographical notes
Slavery connections
The Royal Insurance Company, which Butler directed, was founded by Liverpool merchants who profited from enslavement. (See UCL Department of History, ‘Royal Insurance Company', in UCL Department of History (ed.), Legacies of British Slave-ownership [online], London 2020, <https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/firm/view/721040918> accessed 22 March 2023.)
Abolition connections
No known connections with abolition.
National Gallery painting connections
Donor: presented in 1895: NG1449; in 1897: NG1499 (now at Tate, N01499).
Paintings previously owned by Charles Butler
In this full-length portrait, Armand-Jean du Plessis, duc de Richelieu (1585–1642) wears the robe and skull cap of a cardinal. This position had been granted to him in 1622. His left hand lifts the robe to reveal a delicate layer of lace, also visible on his sleeves, beneath the great expanse of...
This panel – a pinnacle panel – comes from the uppermost part of a large multi-panelled altarpiece painted for the church of Santa Croce, Florence. There were originally six of these, and four survive. Two others are in our collection (they show King David and Moses), as well as panels from other...
Not on display
The artist shows John the Baptist leaving the city for the wilderness, where he lived a simple life preaching about Jesus Christ. We see his dainty figure twice in this scene, which is unusual in Italian art. He appears first leaving the city gates with a small bundle of possessions, and then cli...
Not on display
Christ stands in a river, the water up to his waist. John the Baptist pours a cup of water over his head, baptising him. As he does, God the Father appears in the sky, surrounded by angels, while a dove, the symbol of the Holy Ghost, descends towards Christ in golden rays.The scene reflects John’...
Not on display
This engaging little scene, full of lifelike detail comes from a series of panels that tell the story of the life of John the Baptist, the prophet who preached the coming of Christ as the Messiah. They once formed a predella, the lowest part of a multi-panelled altarpiece.The saint has just been...
Not on display
John the Baptist’s head is presented to King Herod on a golden platter. He recoils in disgust, while his guests cover their eyes, unable to look. The girl in a pink dress is Salome, whose dancing had delighted Herod so much that he offered her whatever she wished for. Her mother, Herod’s wife, as...
Not on display