Detail from The Canal, Amsterdam, 1889, James McNeill Whistler, The Hunterian, University of Glasgow

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M.1579
r.: Butterfly; v.: Butterfly with chequered wings

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1899
Collection: Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Accession Number: E. R. and J. Pennell Collection, DRWG/MA Whistler
Medium: r.: pencil, pen, dark brown ink and white paint; v.: pencil
Support: buff card
Size: 114 x 92 mm (4 1/2 x 3 5/8")
Signature: unsigned
Inscription: r.: ‘outside / distance across’; v.: in unknown hand, ‘Heinemann / Today’
print

r.: Butterfly; v.: Butterfly with chequered wings

Composition

r.: Butterfly; v.: Butterfly with chequered wings were intended for publication in Whistler 1899 (US)[more]. Neither drawing was used.

Technique

Butterfly, Pennell Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Butterfly, Pennell Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Butterfly with chequered wings, Pennell Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Butterfly with chequered wings, Pennell Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

There is a guiding vertical pencil line. Whistler made white paint corrections on the antennae. A pencil outline to the wing, on the right, was printed as a black line in the proof.

Conservation History

There are two pinholes on the right side. It is on similar paper to v.: Butterfly; r.: see No. 1268 [M.1572].

A printed butterfly on a small rectangle of paper cut from Whistler 1890 [more] is stuck on the card, to indicate scale.

The butterfly on the verso was crossed out in ink.

Last updated: 19th March 2021 by Margaret