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

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M.1554
Butterfly beside the sea

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1899
Collection: Glasgow University Library
Accession Number: Whistler 292 f.33
Medium: pencil
Support: cream wove paper, bound into volume of 'Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly'
Size: 7 15/16 x 6 1/4" (202 x 160 mm)
Signature: butterfly
Inscription: 'The drawing to be reduced so that/ the horizontal lines will be about the length/ of the ones in this/ The Butterfly would/ then be less than half size -', by Whistler, and in unknown hand '(2)'; printed: 'To/ Those Confrères across the Channel who,/ with a pluck and delicacy all their own,/ "sat tight" during the struggle, these/ decrees of the Judges are affectionately/ dedicated', and annotated by Whistler, 'refraining from intrusive demonstration.'

Butterfly beside the sea

Composition

Butterfly beside the sea, Glasgow University Library
Butterfly beside the sea, Glasgow University Library
Butterfly beside the sea, Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly, p. v, Glasgow University Library
Butterfly beside the sea, Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly, p. v, Glasgow University Library

The dedication was printed in Whistler 1899 (F)[more] as seen in this proof, but with a line omitted and 'with' altered to 'refraining from intrusive demonstration' as suggested in Whistler's annotation. The butterfly that had been printed was crossed out, and the pencil butterfly is similar to the one actually published, although it was published higher on the page, with the addition of sea and clouds.

Technique

This very rough pencil sketch suggests the butterfly but not the sea that appears in the drawing that replaced it, Butterfly beside the sea [M.1555].

Conservation History

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

Last updated: 19th March 2021 by Margaret