Lot Essay
Elizabeth Southerden Thompson, later Lady Butler is arguably the greatest British military painter of the nineteenth-century, who in her own words 'never painted for the glory of war, but to portray its pathos and heroism'. She was born in Switzerland and trained at the South Kensington Schools in London and in Florence at the Accademia di Belle Arti. She initially focused on religious subjects but was inspired by the work of Jean Louis Meissonier, in Paris in 1870, to paint battle scenes. The Roll Call, depicting the courage and endurance of Grenadier Guards mustering after an engagement during the Crimean War, gained critical and popular success when it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1874. It was fêted by the Royal Family, and her patron Mr Galloway, who had commissioned it, was obliged to surrender the painting to Queen Victoria, where it remains in the Royal Collection.
In 1877 she married Colonel William Butler and travelled to the far reaches of the Empire. When her husband, recently honoured with a knighthood and promoted to Brigadier General, was invalided home from his post at Wadi Halfa in 1886, they settled near Dinan in Brittany where To the Front was painted. It is set during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1) and depicts the French Dragoons heading to the front through the Porte St Malo in Dinan. It is unusual in the artist's oeuvre in its French subject matter and in the inclusion of women and children. Members of the Butler family and household are depicted in the crowd, and the woman in the lower-left corner waving a handkerchief is a self-portrait. Next to her is her daughter Elizabeth, and the two small boys further along the row are her sons Patrick and Richard. The picture was completed at the family's home in Wicklow, Ireland. Following her husband's knighthood in 1886 this was the first work she exhibited at the Royal Academy as Lady Butler.
In 1877 she married Colonel William Butler and travelled to the far reaches of the Empire. When her husband, recently honoured with a knighthood and promoted to Brigadier General, was invalided home from his post at Wadi Halfa in 1886, they settled near Dinan in Brittany where To the Front was painted. It is set during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1) and depicts the French Dragoons heading to the front through the Porte St Malo in Dinan. It is unusual in the artist's oeuvre in its French subject matter and in the inclusion of women and children. Members of the Butler family and household are depicted in the crowd, and the woman in the lower-left corner waving a handkerchief is a self-portrait. Next to her is her daughter Elizabeth, and the two small boys further along the row are her sons Patrick and Richard. The picture was completed at the family's home in Wicklow, Ireland. Following her husband's knighthood in 1886 this was the first work she exhibited at the Royal Academy as Lady Butler.