Elizabeth Thompson

Elizabeth Thompson (1846-1933) a British painter. She was also known as Lady Butler, after her marriage to Lieut. Gen. Sir William Butler.

Born at Villa Claremont in Lausanne, Switzerland, 03 November 1846, she specialized in painting scenes from British military campaigns and battles. These included the Crimean War and Battle of Waterloo. The Roll Call 1874 (purchased by Queen Victoria), The Defence of Rorke's Drift, and Scotland Forever! 1881 (in Leeds City Art Gallery), are among her better known works.

She wrote about her military paintings in her autobiography published in 1922:

She was the daughter of Thomas James Thompson (1812–1881) and his second wife, Christiana Weller (1825–1910). Her sister is the famous essayist and poet Alice Meynell. Elizabeth began receiving art instruction in 1862, while growing up in Italy. In 1866 she went to South Kensington, London and entered the Female School of Art. She became a Roman Catholic along with the rest of the family after they moved to Florence in 1869. While in Florence, under the tutelage of the artist Giuseppe Bellucci (1827–1882), Elizabeth attended the Accademia di Belle Arti.

Initially she concentrated on religious subjects like The Magnificat (1872), but upon going to Paris in 1870 she was exposed to battle scenes from Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier and Edouard Detaille, and switched her focus war paintings. With the painting Missing (1873) a Franco–Prussian War battle scene, depicting the common solders suffering and heroism, she earned her first submission to the Royal Academy. After The Roll Call was shown in 1874 at the Academy, she became a nineteenth century celebrity, due to the paintings' immense popularity. As the painting toured Europe, along with photographs of Elizabeth, she gained even more notoriety because people found out that she was both young and pretty, something normally not associated with painters of battle scenes. It also helped that during this time there was an incredible amount of Victorian pride, and romanticism, for the growing British Empire.

Her career, and fame, peaked with her 11 June 1877 marriage to, Sir William Francis Butler (1838-1910), a British army officer. Not only was this beauty now married, breaking the heart of many a young man, but also she would now travel to the far reaches of the Empire with her husband, and raise their five children. During this time she also came under the influence of her husbands Irish inclined beliefs that maybe the colonial imperialism of countries like Great Britain were not what was best for the native people in far-off lands.

She would continue to paint, and hold true to the valor of the ordinary British solder, despite policy from Parliament and Crown, until her death 02 October 1933 at Bansha, or Gormanston, Castle, County Meath, Ireland.

List of Paintings (chronological):

• The Magnificat (1872)
• Missing (1873)
• Calling the Roll After An Engagement, Crimea (or The Roll Call; 1874 - H.M. The Queen; Buckingham Palace)
• The 28th Regiment at Quatre Bras (1875 – National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne)
• Balaclava (1876 – City of Manchester Art Gallery)
• Missed (1876)
• The Return from Inkerman (1877 - Ferens Art Gallery, Kingston upon Hull)
• The Remnants of an Army (1879 – Tate Gallery)
• Listed for the Connaught Rangers (1879 – Bury Art Gallery)
• The Defence of Rorke's Drift (1880 - H.M The Queen; Windsor Castle)
• Scotland Forever! (1881 – Leeds City Art Gallery)
• Tel-el-Kebir (1885)
• A Lament in the Desert (Private Collection)
• Evicted (1890 - The Irish Folklore Commission University College Dublin)
• The Camel Corps (1891)
• Halt in a Forced March (1892)
• The Rescue of the Wounded (1895)
• Steady the Drums and Fifes (1896 - H.M. The Queen; 57th Regiment, The Middlesex)
• Floreat Etona (1898 - Private Collection)
• Dawn at Waterloo (1898 - Private Collection)
• The Morning of Talavera (1898)
• Within Sound of Guns (painted at Bansha Castle; British Army Staff College)

External links

• Paul Usherwood’s bio (http://www.sevastopol-adventure.com/lady_butler.htm)
• Bio at Spartacus Educational Schoolnet (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jbutler.htm)
• Obituary @ Victorian Art in Britain (http://www.victorianartinbritain.co.uk/obituary/butler.htm)