Photograph of a full-length portrait of William Boxall standing, facing three-quarters to the left. He turns his head towards the front. He poses with his right arm resting on plinth and his left hand on his hip.

Boxall was an English portrait-painter and museum director, eventually becoming Director of the Naional Gallery in 1866. During that time he oversaw the extension of the gallery; negotiated the purchase of Sir Robert Peel's collection of important Dutch and Flemish paintings, and also purchased two important Michelangelo paintings, which was much criticised at the time: The Emtombment and the Manchester Madonna (now attributed to Nicolaes Maes). There is a study for his portrait of Prince Albert at Trinity Hall, in the Royal Collection (RCIN 925433).