The National Portrait Gallery wrongly said that an art dealer built his career using money from slavery before having to concede there was no evidence for the claim.
A painting of Edward Fox White, who opened his first picture gallery in Glasgow in 1854, had been accompanied by a caption which stated that he had benefited from a compensation payout received by his father-in-law following the abolition of slavery.
Curators had written that the money paid to Moses Gomes Silva, a Jamaican sugar plantation owner, was used to “establish and sustain” White’s career. However, they backtracked on the claim after it was spotted by Donald Gajadhar, White’s great-great-grandson.
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He said that the gallery
