Wallart based on Elizabeth Butler's works can be found here.

Elizabeth Thompson was born in 1846 in Switzerland. Her parents had noticed their daughter’s inborn talent for painting as they were both connoisseurs of the art, both visual and literary. They were both close friends of the great literary giant Charles Dickens. However, their daughter’s preference for visual art took precedence over their likely choice of literary art. Hence, they committed themselves to develop Elizabeth’s budding talent for painting.

Obstacles on her way

While she was living in England in her teens, Elizabeth had her first initial training in the art of painting. This is also where Elizabeth had to face her first obstacle. As women were not allowed to use nude models to study anatomy, Elizabeth was barred from taking the real art classes offered at South Kensington Art School. But the brilliance of Elisabeth’s talent was so bright that the School had to take notice and admit her to the school. By then, Elizabeth had already compiled a sketchbook full of specimens and was full of optimism. Despite there being a deterrent policy on female artists painting nudes, the headmaster not only admitted Elizabeth but also placed her in the advanced classes. 

Lone Female Military Artist

Elizabeth was already submitting her work to exhibitions even before she had finished her first term. But her first attempt failed most likely for the reason that she was a female painter. In her second attempt, she sent in a sketch called ‘Bavarian Artillery Going into Action‘ which caught the attention of critics. Though the Londoners had a problem with the sex of the artist who painted this painting, they accepted the female painter overwhelmingly as she was their only contender to compete with the innumerable French military artists.

Disappointing Show at the Academy

Elizabeth had already set her eyes on exhibiting at the Royal Art Academy. Though she knew that there would be challenges ahead of her, she had not expected them to be to the extent of disrespecting her efforts. Elizabeth had to submit three works to the Royal Academy consecutively during the three years before someone took positive note of her talent. Her first work submitted to the Academy was called ‘The Visitation’, which came back to her with a hole in the canvas. The second attempt was rejected completely. Finally, her successful third attempt found her painting hanging somewhere well out of sight of the visitors in the gallery.

Her Painting “Roll Call”

In 1874, Elizabeth was commissioned to paint a piece of military action. She called her masterpiece work ‘Calling the Roll after engagement in Crimea’ or simply called ‘Roll Call”. The image showed a battered battalion standing before their commander and allowing him to take stock of those who survived the battle. The painting hung in the Royal Academy in a place of honor drawing crowds of people. The painting was so big a success that both the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge had a private viewing of the painting. This was also because the Duke of Cambridge had actually fought in the Crimean War. While both the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge praised the depiction of the war, the Duke of Cambridge said that he was ‘astonished’.

Queen Victoria’s Private Viewing

“People pushed and peered over one another to get a better look. The year was 1897 and the venue was Britain’s Roal Academy. The event was the exhibition of Elizabeth Thompson Butler’s groundbreaking painting ‘The Roll Call”. The Academy’s selection committee applauded loudly when the painting was first unveiled. The painting was so magnificent that the exhibitors took it to the sickbed of Florance Nightingale, who managed nurses during the Crimean War. They even took it to Queen Victoria who requested a private viewing.

Gender Discrimination

‘The Roll Call” depicted Grenadier Guards during a roll call after the 1854 Battle of Inkerman. As war painting was considered a subject of man’s domain, and Lady Butler (she was also called so) was prohibited from the battlefield, her paintings relied on intense study and detailed recreations. “Because was a masculine sphere involving the painting of male bodies, in action, this type of artistic training was usually denied to women in this country”, adds a lecturer on the history and theory of photography at Birkbeck, University of London.

Ego blocking her path to success

Elizabeth’s last taste of her painting success was in the form of ‘Roll Call‘. By 1975, most of her paintings had either to find lackluster success or were found handing in the remotest corners of the museums. One such painting that became the easy prey to the all-pervasive male ego was ‘Quatre Brass’ that hung in a particularly inconspicuous corner of the gallery, nicknamed the ‘the black hole‘.

Her Marriage and slide in reputation

In 1877, Elizabeth married Sir William Francis Butler, an Irish General and she had six children in that marriage. The marriage also marked the end of her time in the limelight. The public response even to the changes that Elizabeth made in the style of her paintings was growing harsher. This forced her to shift her focus from military images to social and religious subjects. The fact that her painting ‘Evicted’ became very unpopular and failed to find a buyer showed the extent of the audience’s interest in her work. The situation aggravated when during the Boer war, Elizabeth’s depictions of the realities of warfare ran counter to British patriotism and to the efforts of the nation. She and her art came to be labeled as ‘distasteful’.

In spite of the unfavorable developments that Elizabeth was facing in the British art world, she came within two votes of becoming the first female member of the Royal Academy. She was the first English artist to frame the ordinary British soldier in a sympathetic light and win them over to her side.

Famous Paintings of Elizabeth Thompson Butler

Some of the well-known paintings of Lady Butler include “The Roll Call, Calling the Roll after Engagement in Cremia) (1874), Self-Portrait (1869), ‘Remnants of an Army’, (1842), “Scotland Forever!” (1881), ‘The 28th Regiment at Quatre Bras” (1875), “Evicted” (1890), etc.