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

Home  > Catalogue > People > John Ruskin (related works) > Catalogue entry

M.1264
r.: Butterfly; v.: Part of a butterfly

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1890/1892
Collection: Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Accession Number: 2006685423
Medium: r.: pen and black ink; v.: pen and purple ink
Support: off-white card with printed butterfly on small rectangle stuck to it, cut from a rejected proof from a book (Whistler 1890), p. 242
Size: 5 1/16-5 1/14 x 5 3/8-5 1/2" (129-133 x 136-140 mm)
Signature: butterfly
Inscription: 'Top/ Page 32l/ Size or a little smaller/ [crossed out: No. 4.] No. 5.', and, in an unknown hand, '3/16'

r.: Butterfly; v.: Part of a butterfly

Description

r.: Butterfly, Library of Congress
r.: Butterfly, Library of Congress

The butterfly derives from Whistler's monogram 'JW', with, in addition, a barbed tail curving up at left. It is a design for Whistler 1892 [more] . A cut-out butterfly from the first edition of The Gentle Art of Making Enemies is stuck on the recto.

Last updated: 19th March 2021 by Margaret