Patricia Butler, author, art historian, critic, curator and lecturer was born in Dublin She was educated at Alexandra School and College, Trinity College and University College, Dublin and was awarded the Purser Griffith Travelling Scholarship in the History of European Painting. She is the author of several books relating to Irish art including Three Hundred Years of Irish Watercolours and Drawings which was heralded by the Irish Times as  'Book of the Year' upon release in 1990, and Irish Botanical Illustrators & Flower Painters which was awarded a pre-publication award in Rome in the 1999 CINOA International Art History Prize. Other publications include: The Silent Companion: an illustrated history of the Water Colour Society of Ireland (2010), the commissioned history of the Society and Wicklow Through the Artist's Eye  (2014). She has also contributed a number of articles to publications such as The Encyclopaedia of Ireland and the Irish Arts Review. In 2020, Patricia was invited by the N.G.I. to act as Guest Curator for an exhibition entitled Drawn from Nature: Irish Botanical Art, based on her book: Irish Botanical Illustrators & Flower Painters. Her most recent publication was Drawn from Nature. The Flowering of Irish Botanical Art (2023). Patricia has worked in both public and private art galleries, is a member of the N.G.I. Fellowship Board and a Director of York Conservation Trust. She lives, works, gardens (and waters!!) in County Wicklow.

Patricia’s articles in the Irish Arts Review:

https://www.irishartsreview.com/contributor/patricia-butler/

Drawn from Nature in National Gallery of Ireland:

https://www.nationalgallery.ie/art-and-artists/exhibitions/drawn-nature-irish-botanical-art