Known primarily as a painter of animals and Italian peasant types, George Butler, son of a prominent lawyer, received his initial training in New York under the tutelage of Tomas Hicks. In 1859, he sailed for France to study under Thomas Couture, however his stay was cut short by the Civil War. Returning in late 1860, Butler joined the Seventh Infantry Regiment as a private in April 1861. By 1863 he had been promoted to first lieutenant, but his military career ended on July 4 of that year when he suffered the loss of his right arm at the Battle of Gettysburg. Fortunately, he had always painted with his left hand.
During the several years following his injury, Butler's wereabouts are difficult to pinpoint. He spent some time in northern California, where Emily Butterworth, his wife of four years, died in 1866. Yet in 1865, Butler had returned to Europe, studying with Otto Weber and spending two years under Couture at Senlis. At this time, he began to send animal paintngs home to the National Academy for exhibition. After passing the winter of 1867-68 in Italy, he returned to New York for several years and continued to exhibit with the Academy.
Butler was again in Europe in 1875, this time for a stay of some ten years. He worked in Rome, Florence, and Venice, studying with Whistler in the latter city. However, he and his second wife, Concetta Salvia, established their home on the island of Capri. Butler obtained favorable press for a picture of a cat in the 1878 Paris Exposition, but his interests were already turning toward Italian peasants, a subject he depicted repeatedly in later years.
Butler and his family returned to the United States and settled on a farm near Croton Falls, New York. He was moderately successful in selling his portraits and figure studies, however his work soon became outdated. In 1896, Butler resigned from the Academy. His reasons are unrecorded, but the resignation was not accepted by the Council. By 1899, W. C. Brownell admitted in his Scribner's article on the painter that he was suffering "some neglect." He began to show fewer pictures at the Academy. His last exhbited work in an Academy annual was shortly before his death in 1907, after a hiatus of seven years.
Butler died at his Westchester home at the age of sixty-nine. His obituary, read into the minutes of the Academy's annual meeting of 1907 began, "To our younger members the name, the personality and the work of this remarkable man and gifted artist may be little known." It is perhaps telling that this eulogy mentioned Butler's art only in passing, dwelling instead on his non-professional exploits: "Gifted with boldness and great bodily strength he was, in spite of the loss of his arm, a remarkable rider and swordsman. While he himself had little to say of his varied experiences, rumor made him a very hero of romance."
