Hauling the pilchard nets

This impressive work, the artist's second Royal Academy exhibit, demonstrates Butler's affinity with the emerging English Realist tradition. His outdoor subjects are refreshingly free from sentiment; and in common with fellow proponents such as G. Clausen, H. von Herkomer and F. Holl, Butler uses the square brush technique pioneered by his French contemporaries for their plein air subjects.

Butler relocated from London to Polperro, Cornwall, in 1902. The Newlyn School had put Cornwall firmly on the modern art map. There he set up a painting school on Talland Hill and married Sophia Pond.