Over the centuries only the most resourceful and fortunate women managed to break through to pursue their artistic ambitions – however, in the middle of the 19th Century that was all set to change…
In 1842 the government opened its very first school of female design – right alongside the men’s here at Somerset House in London…
What a breakthrough after centuries of disapproval. Women finally painting and learning alongside their male contemporaries. Well not quite.
Just 6 years after it opened the female school was moved…to the other side of The Strand - an area then infamous for pornographic bookshops and unsavoury pubs. The message was crystal clear – female artists were still second class – but one pupil was not prepared to be so easily dismissed… If she couldn’t join the men then she’d beat them at their own game…
Over the centuries there was one genre of painting that had remained the ultimate masculine stronghold – war art.
The battlefield reeked of testosterone. Any artist who wanted to capture its visceral glory needed an iron stomach and imperviousness that angelic Victorian women were seen to lack. And yet it was a pupil of the fledgling female school of design who would become the most celebrated war artist of her time.
Lady Butler was born, simply, Elizabeth Thompson in 1846 to a wealthy family. So pretty and delicate, there was no outward clue that she would grow up to be anything more than a text-book Victorian Lady, (aside) unless you looked inside her sketchbooks that is… rather marvellously, this one is done when she was only 14, as you go on what this reveals to my utter amazement is even as a young teenager she was preoccupied with history, with battles, and with men.
Look, a bayonet charge. Firing a pistol.
What I see even in these tiny sketches is the unusual ambition of a young woman. Even in something miniature she's reaching after the male, and the epic.
Determined to pursue her artistic ambitions Butler, aged 20, enrolled herself in the new Female School of Design writing in her diary on the eve of her first day – ‘Ah! They shall hear of me some day.’…That day dawned sooner than she could have imagined, when in 1874 Butler submitted one of her works to the Royal Academy. It was here in this most male dominated of arenas that her work would provoke the most startling reaction.
When the exhibition was opened to the public she caused a sensation. The painting was mobbed. She reflected it in her diary that night: 'I awoke this morning and found myself famous!'
So famous in fact that just a few weeks later, the painting was bought by Queen Victoria herself – and today it hangs in pride of place here at St James Palace…
It's known as 'The Roll Call', or to give it its more precise title, 'Calling the Roll After an Engagement in the Crimea'.This is not a celebration of noble heroism. Instead it's a depiction of the costs of war.
The events of the Crimean War some 20 years before were still raw in popular memory – undeterred, Butler had chosen to expose the painful truth for the ordinary soldier…
They are an absolute study in weariness and exhaustion… it’s suffused with human emotion. The painting went on tour across the great northern cities and was mobbed wherever it went. Arguably this is the painting that touched the Victorians like no other. But it may surprise you to learn that a woman who was so skilled at showing the realities of war – never saw a battlefield for herself. Preferring to keep a distance from what she saw as the ‘vile details’.
However she was still determined that her work should be as authentic as possible, arranging elaborate re-enactments – to create her most dynamic work, she risked life and limb, confessing: ‘I twice saw a charge of the Greys before painting 'Scotland for Ever!’ and I stood in front to see them coming on.’
Lady Butler had overcome centuries of prejudice. A woman had triumphed not only in the male dominated establishment of the Royal Academy no less, it was in an art form that was most prized by the art establishment.
Video summary
Historian Amanda Vickery explains that only a few women in the 18th and 19th centuries were accepted as artists.
The Female School of Design was set up in the middle of the 19th Century to train female artists - a breakthrough after centuries of women not being taken seriously - but after six years the school was moved to the Strand, a rougher area well known for prostitution and crime, reflecting just how little female artists were valued.
Lady Elizabeth Butler (1846-1933) became the most successful war artist of her time despite war being seen as the most masculine of subjects.
Sketches made when Elizabeth was just 14 show she was already interested in soldiers and cavalry charges.
In 1874, Lady Butler submitted a painting called "Calling the Roll after an Engagement in the Crimea" to the Royal Academy.
It was exhibited to enormous popularity and eventually bought by Queen Victoria.
The painting is unusual because it shows, not heroism and battle, but the strain on injured soldiers as they re-group.
Lady Butler organised scenes to be re-enacted because she could not visit the battlefield herself.
Before painting "Scotland Forever" (1881), she saw a cavalry charge twice.
This clip is from the series The Britain That Women Made.
Teacher Notes
This could be used in lessons on relevant key historical concepts such as change and continuity and causation, or relevant historical periods like the Industrial Revolution, and the social, political and economic changes of the 18th century.
Students could be encouraged to discuss the barriers women faced as artists.
What were the factors which helped Lady Butler become successful?
In their answers students could consider the importance of her determination, her education, the role of the Royal Academy, the role of the Female School of Design and the type of art people wanted to see.
Which of these factors was most important in her success?
This clip is suitable for teaching Art and Design and History at Key Stage 3 and Third Level.
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