Mildred Anne Butler, 1858 – 1941 – A Sheltered Corner – Courtesy of National Museums NI, Ulster Museum Collection.
Mildred Anne Butler: At Home in Nature opens at the National Gallery of Ireland on September 14 and will run until next January 5. This new display of the art of one of Ireland’s first professional women artists is part of the Gallery’s broader effort to celebrate the contributions of Irish women artists. It showcases 16 watercolours, drawn from public and private collections across the island of Ireland, along with a selection of archival material, on loan from Trinity College Dublin, which provide further insights into her life as a working artist. Mildred Anne Butler was born and raised at Kilmurry, a grand mid-18th-century manor house near Thomastown, County Kilkenny. The 350-acre estate provided her with an endless source of inspiration, and a wealth of exquisite colour to paint. Her work captures the essence of her immediate environs with both striking accuracy and a sense of fresh immediacy. She is best known for her sumptuous garden scenes, as well as her detailed depictions of animals and birds, which she cleverly imbued with subtleties of character.