1 Jul 2025 - 1 Nov 2026

Myth and Reality: Military Art in the Age of Queen Victoria

This major exhibition of rarely seen artworks illuminates shifting attitudes towards soldiers and the Army during Queen Victoria’s reign (1837 – 1901).

Free exhibition

Discover over 100 inspiring artworks - including paintings, sketchbooks and miniatures - from the National Army Museum's collections, as well as major loans from the Royal Collections Trust and the National Portrait Gallery.

During Queen Victoria’s reign, military art had an enormous impact on the public in Britain. Demand for news from across the globe created a new trade in war correspondence, with reports sent directly from the battlefield. 

In an era when photography was still new, artists were commissioned to report and draw scenes from the front.

Images of war

Britain’s army was no longer depicted through its generals and leaders alone. Instead, military painters evoked ordinary soldiers and their experiences, playing a vital role in satisfying this appetite for accurate and up-to-date information.

Alongside the proliferation of realistic images of war appearing in the press, military art was displayed in exhibitions that attracted huge crowds. Similarly, affordable prints and illustrated publications could be found in homes across the country.

A growing appreciation and empathy for the hardships soldiers faced - newly reflected in the art of the era - led to a series of military reforms. However, idealised battle scenes and heroic portraits of the Army elite - an early form of propaganda and ‘fake news’ - continued to serve a purpose to inspire national pride and maintain public support for ongoing military campaigns.

A fresh perspective

Featuring artworks not seen in public for a generation, this major exhibition brings a fresh perspective to a vital period of art history.

Charting almost a century of military art, the exhibition gives prominence to paintings and sketches by Lady Butler, the leading female battle artist of the age. Her guiding principle of painting not for the ‘glory of war’ but to portray its ‘pathos and heroism’ demonstrates the stylistic development that can be seen through the works on display.

An accompanying series of public events and digital storytelling will explore the exhibition’s themes in more detail.

  • Allow about 60 minutes

  • Access via main lift

  • Gallery on Floor 2

Plan your free visit
‘I never painted for the glory of war, but to portray its pathos and heroism.’
Lady Elizabeth Butler — 1922

Exhibition highlights

The Capitulation of Kars, Crimean War, 28 November 1855

The Capitulation of Kars

In June 1855, the city of Kars, in north-eastern Turkey, was besieged by a Russian army of 25,000 men. The Turks left the defence of Kars to Brevet Colonel William Fenwick Williams, who was the British commissioner with the Ottoman Army in Anatolia during the Crimean War (1854-56). Through his brilliant organisation, the garrison was able to repulse three major Russian attacks. But cold, famine and an outbreak of cholera eventually forced it to surrender on 26 November 1855.
Study of a wounded Guardsman, Crimea, c1854

Study of a wounded Guardsman

This soldier, with his head bandaged, is a preliminary study for the key figure standing in the centre of Lady Butler's famous painting, ‘The Roll Call’, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1874 and subsequently acquired by Queen Victoria. The muster of soldiers depicted in ‘The Roll Call’ was not linked by the artist to a particular action, rather it was intended to give a prime example of the gruelling conditions in which the Army lived during the Crimean War (1854-56).
‘After the Battle: arrival of Lord Wolseley and staff at the Bridge of Tel-el-Kebir at the close of the action’, 13 September 1882

After the battle of Tel-el-Kebir

This detail from a painting by Lady Butler, exhibited in its complete form at the Royal Academy in 1885, shows Sir Garnet Wolseley and members of his staff at the end of the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir (1882) in Egypt. Wolseley is flanked on the right by the black-whiskered figure of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir William Butler, the artist’s husband.
Lady Butler sketch

Lady Butler's sketchbook

Lady Butler used pencil drawings to develop the composition of her paintings and to establish the best poses for individual figures.
General Sir Frederick Sleigh Roberts, on his horse Vonolel, 1894

Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts

This painting depicts one of Britain's most successful military commanders on his horse, Vonolel. A nimble-footed Arab charger, Vonolel was Roberts's only reliable horse during the Second Afghan War (1878-80) and carried his master on the celebrated march from Kabul to Kandahar.
Maharajah Ranjit Singh, c1839

Maharajah Ranjit Singh

This is one of six miniatures presented to Lady Honoria Lawrence by Ranjit Singh, the founder and first maharajah of the Sikh Empire. Lady Lawrence was the wife of Sir Henry Lawrence. They travelled through the Punjab in the 1830s and Henry was later the British representative in the area.

Explore further

Events

What’s on

Keep an eye on our events programme to find out what's coming up over the next few months. Whatever your interests, there's sure to be something for you.

Story

Drawn on the spot: War artists and the illustrated press

To meet the Victorian public’s growing desire for authentic images of war, newspapers began sending artists to accompany British troops on campaign. Their pictures formed the substance of much war reporting.

Video

Home Again, 1858

This painting by Henry Nelson O'Neil captures the moment soldiers and their families are reunited after a long spell of separation. Here, we take a closer look at the artwork to gain a 19th-century insight into this often neglected aspect of military life.