Elizabeth Butler's literary and artistic landscapes : Ireland, Egypt and the Holy Land

Wynne, Catherine

Abstract

Although best known as a military artist and praised by John Ruskin, Elizabeth Butler (1846–1933) also produced two illustrated books of travel writing, Letters from the Holy Land (1903) and From Sketch-Book and Diary (1909). This essay examines Butler's work in the context of imperial mobility, and explores her participation in discourses of empire. Examination of her travel narratives and selected paintings reveal a sophisticated engagement with the landscapes of empire and colony, shifting between her husband's military postings in Egypt in the 1880s and 1890s to their home in Ireland. Butler's travels in the West and the East produce exotic landscapes in painting and prose that evoke varied responses incorporating religious identifications, social sympathies, and orientalist inscriptions.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: 2009-08
• Journal: Prose Studies
• Print ISSN: 1743-9426
• Electronic ISSN: 1743-9426
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 31
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 126-140
• APA6 Citation: Wynne, C. (2009). Elizabeth Butler's literary and artistic landscapes : Ireland, Egypt and the Holy Land. Prose Studies, 31(2), (126-140). doi:10.1080/01440350903323553. ISSN 1743-9426
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01440350903323553
• Keywords: Elizabeth Butler; Military painting; Travel; Ireland; Egypt; Holy Land; Empire; Colonialism
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01440350903323553