Self Portrait at the Age of about Nineteen

Boxall, who succeeded Sir Charles Eastlake as Director of the National Gallery in 1866, had been primarily a portrait painter and had exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1829. The exact date of this picture is unknown. During his directorship he acquired Michelangelo's 'Entombment'and 'Manchester Madonna'. He negotiated the acquisition of 77 pictures from the Peel collection in 1871; these included 'Le Chapeau de Paille' by Rubens and Hobbema's 'The Avenue, Middelharnis'. Boxall resigned in 1874.