The artist married Major William Butler in 1877 and went on honeymoon to the west of Ireland. This recruiting scene with its superb stretch of Irish landscape in the background was painted shortly afterwards. Bearing in mind the attitudes of the time, it is perhaps remarkable that a woman should have become the foremost British military painter of the nineteenth century. Lady Butler’s reputation was established by the tremendous public acclaim given to her first major painting, 'The Roll Call', and its purchase by Queen Victoria from the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition of 1874. In this picture the artist evoked a strong response from the public by avoiding the stereotypical depiction of violence or heroism and showing instead the ordinary British soldier in the aftermath of battle.