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

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M.1576
Butterfly design for 'L'Envoi'

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1898
Collection: Whereabouts unknown
Accession Number: none
Medium: pencil, pen and dark brown ink
Support: off-white wove paper laid down
Size: 197 x 152 mm (7 3/4 x 6")
Signature: unsigned
Inscription: recto inscribed ‘For l’Envoie / Butterfly about same size as present trial one – quite as small – perhaps a little smaller’ ['quite' is underlined], and, in an unknown hand, ‘4 3/4 to 1 1/2 [arrow] 1’, ‘top’, ‘(5)’; verso inscribed in unknown hand ‘black [bing] PP / 2nd margin / Lay only [&] show [&] mgin / [2] and 10 / [Devonald/Deverald] / R’

Butterfly design for 'L'Envoi'

Provenance

  • 1980: sold at auction, Christie's, London, 17 October 1980 (lot 1) as 'Butterfly Motif' and bought by A. D'Offay, London art dealer;
  • 1981: sold at auction, Christie's, London, 6 November 1981 (lot 4) and bought by Julius L. Zelman and Anita Zelman (n/a) ;
  • 2017: on J. L. Zelman's death, possibly passed to a private collection.

The earlier and current provenance is unknown.

Exhibitions

It was not, as far as is known, exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

Last updated: 9th March 2021 by Margaret