National Portrait Gallery is facing backlash after ‘wrongly claiming art dealer used slaves to establish and sustain his career’

•  Donald Gajadhar spotted the slur when he visited the gallery last summer

The National Portrait Gallery is facing backlash after wrongly claiming that an art dealer built his career using money from slavery, according to a relative.

Donald Gajadhar, the great-great-grandson of art dealer Edward Fox White, spotted the slur when he visited the gallery last summer. 

In the caption, placed next to a portrait of Mr White, the gallery claimed that a payout he received for freeing slaves was used to ‘establish and sustain’ his career.

However, his relative says ‘the claim simply isn’t true’ and has asked for a public retraction and an apology following the smear.

Mr Gajadhar told The Telegraph: ‘They had no evidence that his (Mr White’s) father-in-law, Moses Gomes Silva, gave him any money from his slave compensation.

He added: ‘It seems to me that it was put there to tick some boxes, but that’s not right, they should have done their due diligence.’

Mr Gajadhar said it made him feel as though the gallery had an ‘agenda’ which was ‘more important to them than the facts.’

The full caption read: ‘White’s first marriage linked him to a wealthy Sephardic Portuguese Jewish family who had owned Jamaican sugar plantations.

‘Following Abolition in 1836, White’s future father-in-law received a ‘large amount’ of compensation for 28 enslaved Africans – money that would later help establish and sustain White’s career.’ 

The National Portrait Gallery has removed any reference to slavery from the caption, pertaining to ‘insufficient direct evidence’.

Mr Gajadhar, who is a descendant of slaves himself, said he felt compelled to seek clarification from the gallery as the caption didn’t align with his own knowledge of his family history. 

Edward Fox White opened his first picture gallery in Glasgow in 1854 before moving to Mayfair in London where he established premises in St James.

Mr White dealt in etchings, watercolours and oil paintings of the top artists of the day, including Courbet, Gainsborough, Turner and Tissot.

His sons followed in his footsteps and ran the first E & E Silva White art dealership in London.

The oil painting of Mr White, by French artist James Tissot, was sold by Mr Gajadhur’s grandmother in 1988 and is on loan to the National Portrait Gallery. 

A spokesperson for the National Portrait Gallery said: ‘In the original label for the portrait of Edward Fox White, the text indicated that White’s career benefitted from inheritance money from his father-in-law, Moses Gomes Silva, a sugar plantation owner and merchant who received compensation money following the abolition of slavery. 

‘Having listened to Mr Gajadhar’s concerns, the Gallery accepted that there was insufficient direct evidence to show that compensation money received by his father-in-law benefitted White’s financial situation and business.

‘Following the correspondence with Mr Gajadhar, we have amended the label, which is on public view next to the portrait. 

‘We have thanked him for his feedback and would be very happy to continue to discuss the matter with Mr Gajadhar, if there are further areas of concern.’