Players associated with the dealer of prominent portraits at the National Portrait Gallery

• Donald Gajadhar saw the noise when he visited the gallery last summer

The National Portrait Gallery is facing trouble after falsely claiming that an art dealer made his work using slave money, according to a relative.

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

In a statement, posted next to Mr White’s portrait, the gallery said the payment he received for freeing slaves was used to ‘create and support’ his work.

However, the relative says ‘the claim is not true’ and has asked for a public apology and apology after the crime.

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

He added: ‘It seems to me that it was put there to tick some boxes, but that is not correct, they should have done their best.’

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Mr Gajadhar said it made him feel the gallery had a “program” that was ‘more important to them than the details.’

The full description reads: ‘White’s first marriage brought him into contact with a wealthy Sephardic Portuguese Jewish family that owned sugar plantations in Jamaica.

After Abolition in 1836, White’s future father-in-law received a ‘large’ 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, citing ‘insufficient direct evidence’.

Who was Edward Fox White? (1828-1900)

Edward Fox White was an art dealer who opened his first gallery in Glasgow in 1854.

Mr White moved to Mayfair in London where he established a building in St James.

He worked with etchings, watercolors and oil paintings from contemporary artists including Turner, Tissot, Gainsborough and Courbet.

His two sons, Edward Silva White and Edward Fox White, went on to establish the successful art dealer business ‘E & E White’.

One of his sons was a British geographer and administrator and founded the British Scottish Geographical Society in 1884.

Source: fox-white.com

Mr Gajadhar, himself a descendant of slaves, said he felt compelled to seek an explanation from the gallery as the inscription did not match his knowledge of his family’s history.

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

Mr White worked with etchings, watercolors and oil paintings of the leading 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 business in London.

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

A spokesman for the National Portrait Gallery said: “In the original text of the portrait of Edward Fox White, the text shows that White’s work benefited from his father-in-law, Moses Gomes Silva, a sugar plantation owner and a merchant who received relief money after the abolition of slavery.

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

After corresponding with Mr. Gajadhar, we have changed the letter, which is visible to the public next to the picture.

‘We thank him for his comments and we will be very happy to discuss this further with Mr Gajadhar, if there are other areas involved.’