Martin Butlin
Born (1929-06-07) 7 June 1929 (age 95)
West Bromwich, England
NationalityBritish
OccupationArt Historian
AwardsCBE
Academic background
Alma materTrinity College, Cambridge Courtauld Institute of Art

Martin Richard Fletcher Butlin, CBE, FBA (born 7 June 1929) is a British art historian. His main field of study is British art history and his published works reflect, in particular, a study of art of the 18th and 19th centuries. He is an authority on J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851) and William Blake (1757–1827).

Early life

Butlin was born on 7 June 1929,[1] his birth registered in West Bromwich.[2] He was educated at Rendcomb College in Gloucestershire before going up to Trinity College, Cambridge, and later the Courtauld Institute of Art, London.[1]

Career

Butlin was appointed Assistant Keeper of the Historic British Collection at the Tate Gallery in 1955, a post he held until 1967, when he was then appointed Keeper, a post he held for 22 years, ending in 1989.[3] Since that time he has been a consultant to Christie's in London.[4]

Butlin was appointed CBE in the 1990 New Year Honours.[5] He is a Fellow of the British Academy.[6]

Throughout his working life Butlin has researched assiduously, producing a number of publications in his area of expertise. Amongst these is included a catalogue raisonné of the paintings and drawings of William Blake.[7]

Butlin co-authored with Evelyn Joll The Paintings of J. M. W. Turner, first published in 1977, both authors receiving the Mitchell Prize for the History of Art a year later. The book was described in Joll's obituary as a "... fully rounded catalogue raisonné of some 560 paintings..."[8]

Photographs attributed to Butlin appear at the Courtauld Institute's of Art's Conway Library.[9] This is a collection of mainly architectural images containing glass and film negatives as well as prints. The collection is currently being digitised as part of the wider project Courtauld Connects.[10]

Selected publications

Works on William Blake

Works on J.M.W. Turner

Other works

References

  1. ^ a b BUTLIN, Martin Richard Fletcher, Who's Who 2016, A & C Black, 2016 (online edition, Oxford University Press, 2015)
  2. ^ Ancestry Library Edition[verification needed]
  3. ^ "Search Results for Martin Butlin". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  4. ^ International Who's Who of Authors and Writers 2004 (Psychology Press, 2003), entry 'Butlin, Martin (Richard Fletcher)', page 85
  5. ^ "No. 51981". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 1989. p. 7.
  6. ^ "Fellows of the British Academy". The British Academy. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  7. ^ "Martin Butlin, The Paintings and Drawings of William Blake | Robert N. Essick | Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly | Volume 16, Issue 1". bq.blakearchive.org. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  8. ^ Egerton, Judy (11 April 2001). "Obituaries: Evelyn Joll". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  9. ^ "Who made the Conway Library?". Digital Media. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  10. ^ "Courtauld Connects". Courtauld Connects. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
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