miniaturist, portrait painter and professional photographer, was born in Britain, son of John Botterill and Mary, née Barker. John junior was working in Melbourne from the early 1850s, advertising in the Argus of 12 April 1853 as a portrait, miniature and animal painter and offering lessons in landscape, fruit and flower painting in oil, watercolour, 'crayon’ or pencil. Examples of his work were displayed at Mr Baker’s Church of England Book Depot, 71 Swanston Street. The Armchair critic stated that his portrait of a little girl was 'pert, pretty and picturesque’ but considered his Greek Girl more English than Grecian.

In 1853 Botterill joined the organising committee for the Victorian Fine Arts Society’s exhibition, to which he contributed eight works. These included portraits (one a miniature self-portrait), two figure studies – Greek Girl and Peasant Boy – and a possible narrative subject, Thank you, Sir . He was listed in the catalogue as a miniature painter at Mr Baker’s. His two works shown in the 1856 Victorian Exhibition of Art were Family Portrait , described as a 'large oil painting, representing a group of three little girls and a boy, very artistically treated’, and a 'portrait of a little boy half nude, and engaged in plucking a bunch of grapes’, possibly another appearance of Peasant Boy .

Botterill appeared in Melbourne directories from 1862 to 1866 as an artist of Caroline Street, South Yarra. Between 1861 and 1865 he was also working at P.M. Batchelder 's Photographic Portrait Rooms in Collins Street East, Melbourne, 'engaged … to paint miniatures and portraits in oil, watercolour or mezzotint – these deserve what they are receiving, a wide reputation’, stated the Argus on 22 November 1865. In 1866 he became one of the proprietors of Batchelder’s with F.A. Dunn and J.N. Wilson , but the partnership lasted only until the end of the following year. For the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh to Melbourne in November 1867 Botterill painted a 4 × 5 foot (121 × 152 cm) transparency to decorate Batchelder’s. The Argus described this in detail, noting that it represented four of England’s chief naval heroes (Drake, Blake, Nelson and Collingwood) as well as Prince Alfred, an Elizabethan galleon and the Galatea , with the motto 'England’s naval heroes and her hope’. Two coloured photographs by Botterill, Portrait of Sir J.H.T. Manners-Sutton and Portrait of Lady Manners-Sutton , were lent by the Governor Manners-Sutton to both the Melbourne Public Library and Ballarat Mechanics Institute exhibitions in 1869. From 1870 to 1879 Botterill operated his own Melbourne photographic studio: at 19 Collins Street East in 1872-74 and at 12 Beehive Chambers, Elizabeth Street in 1875-79. He died on 25 July 1881 and was buried in the St Kilda Cemetery.

Few extant works are known. The Mitchell Library holds an undated oval watercolour Portrait of His Excellency Sir John Young signed 'J. Botterill, Artist’; an undated oil portrait of Sir Redmond Barry and an elegant hand-coloured photograph of Captain William Lonsdale are in the La Trobe Library; and the National Library of Australia owns a watercolour bridal portrait of the botanical artist Ellis Rowan , painted over a photograph in October 1873.

Writers:

Staff Writer

Date written:

1992

Last updated:

2011