1846 -1933 · Battle painting, soldier's endurance and British imperial memory

Elizabeth Thompson places the soldier at the heart of the battle: charge, defensive square and exhaustion become human experiences captured with spectacular precision.

Born in 1846 in Lausanne into a British family, Elizabeth Southerden Thompson trained in Italy then at the Female School of Art in South Kensington. She studied horses, uniforms and troop movements with unusual rigor, attending maneuvers and using veterans as witnesses. Her fame broke out at the Royal Academy Salon of 1874 with Calling the Roll after an Engagement, Crimea, soon acquired by Queen Victoria. Thompson then specialized in British military painting. It represents less abstract victory than the expectation, fatigue, discipline and violence experienced by soldiers. Married in 1877 to officer William Butler, she is then known as Lady Butler. His compositions devoted to Quatre-Bras, Rorke's Drift or in charge of the Scots Grays bring together documentary accuracy and strong staging. Its proximity to the imperial universe does not prevent a growing sensitivity to the human cost of war, particularly visible in its retirement and post-combat scenes. The "Elizabeth Thompson" selection notably compares The Defense of Rorke's Drift and The 28th Regiment at Quatre Bras. His reading favors drawing.

Lady Butler makes the battle heard without painting the noise alone: the effort of the horses, the alignment of the men and the tired faces give the spectacle its human weight.