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

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M.1571
Butterfly

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1899
Collection: Glasgow University Library
Accession Number: Whistler 292 f.75
Medium: pencil
Support: cream wove paper, bound into volume of 'Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly'
Size: 7 3/4 x 6 3/8" (197 x 158 mm)
Signature: butterfly
Inscription: printed text , starting 'RÉSUMÉ', with mss corrections

Butterfly

Composition

Butterfly, Glasgow University Library
Butterfly, Glasgow University Library

This was drawn for publication in Whistler 1899 (F)[more] . The rough pencil sketc was drawn on the proof sheet, to suggest a position for the butterfly at the end of the Resumé on p. 79 ('Established: The ABSOLUTE RIGHT of the Artist to control the destiny of his handiwork'... etc). The butterfly actually used is v.: Butterfly; r.: see No. 1268 [M.1572].

Technique

It is very roughly and faintly sketched.

Conservation History

The sheet is badly foxed.

Last updated: 9th March 2021 by Margaret