William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme a painting by Edmund Leighton. Lever's rival in the soap industry, A & F Pears, had taken the lead in using art for marketing by buying paintings such as "Bubbles" by John Everett Millais to promote its products. Lever's response was to acquire similarly illustrative works, and he later bought 'The New Frock' by William Powell Frith to promote the Sunlight soap brand. In 1922 he founded the Lady Lever Art Gallery at Port Sunlight in Cheshire which he dedicated to his late wife Elizabeth. William Lever was born on 19 September 1851 at 16 Wood Street, Bolton, Lancashire, England.
Raoul Millais Raoul Millais Hesketh Raoul Lejarderay Millais (1901–1999), usually known as Raoul or 'Liony' Millais was a portrait painter, equestrian artist and sportsman. He was the grandson of Sir John Everett Millais and the son of John Guille Millais and from them he inherited both his artistic talent and his love of animals and of hunting. His father, John Guille Millais, was an artist, soldier, naturalist, hunter, writer and explorer. Raoul followed his father in each of these roles. He is best known for his equestrian paintings and for his Spanish work, created when he accompanied Ernest Hemingway. Like his contemporary,