Portrait of Eva Butler with Dove
by MUNRO, Alexander, White marble relief, set in veined green marble frame, diameter 42 cm
During the 1850’s Munro spent a great deal of time in Oxford where he stayed with the Butlers, and in time he produced three portraits of Josephine Butler and three of her daughter Eva.
The present relief illustrates the artist’s tendency to break out of the confines of the round or oval perimeter of his portraits: the wings of the dove appear to flutter onto the border.