Martin Butlin

Martin Butlin
Born (1929-06-07) 7 June 1929 (age 97)
West Bromwich, England
OccupationArt Historian
AwardsCBE
Academic background
EducationTrinity 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, his birth registered in West Bromwich. He was educated at Rendcomb College in Gloucestershire before going up to Trinity College, Cambridge, and later the Courtauld Institute of Art, London.

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. Since that time he has been a consultant to Christie's in London.

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

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.

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..."

Photographs attributed to Butlin appear at the Courtauld Institute's of Art's Conway Library. 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.

Selected publications

Works on William Blake

Works on J.M.W. Turner

Other works

References

  1. 1 2 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. Archived from the original on 3 July 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  10. ↑ "Courtauld Connects". Courtauld Connects. Retrieved 16 March 2021.