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

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M.1552
r.: Butterfly; v.: Butterflies

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1899
Collection: Glasgow University Library
Accession Number: Whistler 292 f.23-4
Medium: r.: pencil, pen and black ink; v: pen and black ink
Support: cream wove paper, bound into volume of 'Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly'
Size: 3 7/16 x 5 7/8" (88 x 149 mm)
Signature: butterfly
Inscription: r.: 'under Shameless/ Friendship' and in unknown hands 'Top / Reduced to about one third [crossed out]/ reduce 3 to 1' [crossed out]; v.: '14 ½ x 14/ 64988' in unknown hands

r.: Butterfly; v.: Butterflies

Composition

r.: Butterfly, Glasgow University Library
r.: Butterfly, Glasgow University Library
Butterfly, Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly, p. iv, Glasgow University Library
Butterfly, Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly, p. iv, Glasgow University Library

The butterfly, designed for publication in Whistler 1899 (F)[more] , p. iv, completes the summary of the subject of the book.

Technique

It was drawn in pencil, pen and black ink. A sputtery pen nib and soft paper led to irregularities in the lines. The design looked jaunty and effective in the book. The fragmentary drawings on the verso were smudged, crossed out and not used.

Conservation History

This is one of several drawings inset into sheets before being bound into a copy of the The Baronet and the Butterfly. r.: Butterfly; v.: Butterflies [M.1552] and r.: Butterfly and tricolour flag; v.: Two butterflies and part of a third [M.1556] are halves of the same sheet of paper, with half of one one crossed out butterfly on each.

Last updated: 19th March 2021 by Margaret