As a dentist and then an architect, Courtland Livingston Butler supplemented his income with sales of oil paintings. He was born in Columbus, Ohio, but had lived with his family in Iowa and Pennsylvania before arriving in Hartford, Connecticut in 1928. As a result of the Great Depression in 1932, Butler turned to painting full-time, and participated in the federal Public Works of Art Project of the Works Progress Administration. His paintings show the sunlit landscapes found in his travels, and exhibit the work of a skilled hand. He and his wife made their final home in Florida, where he died in 1952.