s The Return from Inkerman - Hull Museums Collections

The Return from Inkerman

Lady Elizabeth Butler was an innovative artist and is valued as one of the first painters to celebrate the courage of the ordinary British soldier. She also challenged the conventions of her day by depicting war scenes rather than sticking to the limited subject matter then regarded as suitable for women artists. She became the most successful war artist of the period. The Return from Inkerman was Lady Butler's third painting of the Crimean War in which Britain and France attempted to limit Russian power in the Turkish Empire. Butler's picture was painted twenty-three years after the actual event. She never saw military action herself but gained insight into army life as a soldier's wife. The realism of her paintings was achieved with meticulous and elaborate preparation. This involved literally recreating historic events by hiring platoons of soldiers, dressed in authentic uniform, to bring the action of particular battles back to life. One of Butler's most famous paintings, 'The Roll Call', was purchased for the Royal Collection by Queen Victoria in 1874.