One of the most prominent parliamentarians of the nineteenth century, Gladstone was born in Liverpool to Scottish parents. His father, John Gladstone, was one of the largest owners of enslaved people in the British West Indies. In 1832 Gladstone was elected as an MP whereupon he advocated gradual rather than immediate abolition of the slave trade. Following abolition, he secured, with his father, financial compensation for plantation owners. In 1867 Gladstone became leader of the Liberal Party, serving four terms as Prime Minister and as MP for Midlothian from 1880 to 1895. This portrait was painted in Munich during a European trip made by Gladstone and his wife Catherine in 1879.