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

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M.1557
Butterfly

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1899
Collection: Glasgow University Library
Accession Number: Whistler 292 f.56
Medium: pen and black ink
Support: cream wove paper, bound into volume of 'Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly'
Size: 7 15/16 x 6 3/8" (202 x 157 mm)
Signature: butterfly
Inscription: 'Not to be made // attach to 3 & 4' in unknown hands; printed proof, text 'AND IT IS GRAVEN UPON THE TABLETS OF THE CAUSES CELEBRES - AND THE NEW LAW IS ADDED TO THE CODE NAPOLEON! AND THE NAME THEREOF IS FAMOUS FOREVER! '

Butterfly

Composition

Butterfly, Glasgow University Library
Butterfly, Glasgow University Library

This was one of several versions of the butterfly with a tricolour flag, drawn for publication in Whistler 1899 (F)[more] . It was not published in this form, but as in Butterfly and tricolour flag [M.1560].

Conservation History

The paper is dark cream. 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