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

 

M.1551
Butterfly for 'Noblesse abuse!'

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1899
Collection: Glasgow University Library
Accession Number: Whistler 292 f.17
Medium: pen and black ink
Support: cream wove paper, bound into volume of 'Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly'
Size: 4 5/16 x 4 3/4" (110 x 120 mm)
Signature: butterfly
Inscription: r.: 'To this/ scale from/ top to toe', and, in unknown hands, 'top' and 'red 2 3/8 to 5/8'; v.: '15 x 13/ 64906' in unknown hands

Butterfly for 'Noblesse abuse!'

Composition

Butterfly for 'Noblesse abuse!', Glasgow University Library
Butterfly for 'Noblesse abuse!', Glasgow University Library
"Noblesse abuse!", Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly, Glasgow University Library
"Noblesse abuse!", Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly, Glasgow University Library

This butterfly replaced r.: Butterfly for 'Noblesse abuse'; v.: tail [M.1550], for publication in Whistler 1899 (F)[more] , p. i.

Technique

It was drawn in pencil, pen and black ink. In the reduction for publication the wavery outlines of wings became less apparent.

Conservation History

This is one of several drawings inset into sheets before being bound into a copy of the The Baronet and the Butterfly.

Last updated: 17th April 2019 by Margaret