initially butler concentrated on religious subjects like "the magnificat" (1872), but upon going to paris in 1870 she was exposed to battle scenes from jean louis ernest meissonier and édouard detaille, and switched her focus to war paintings. with the painting "missing" (1873), a franco-prussian war battle scene depicting the common soldiers' suffering and heroism, she earned her first submission to the royal academy. butler's painting "the roll call," which depicted a line of soldiers worn out with conflict, was shown in 1874 at the royal academy summer exhibition and became so popular that a policeman had to be stationed next to the painting in order to regulate the crowds that came to see it. butler wrote that after the opening of the summer exhibition she awoke to find herself famous.