Technique

Painted freely, with expressive brushwork and thin paint. A comparatively broad, rounded brush was used for the sky and foreground, a smaller one for the houses and a very fine brush for the detail of the ship. It was signed with the butterfly at a later date.

Conservation History

Unknown. It is slightly abraded at the edges from the mount or frame (when working on site, Whistler often used a small box with slots to hold his wet panels). The varnish is very slightly yellowed.

Frame

The picture was framed by Frederick Henry Grau (1859-1892) in London. The backboard has a pen and ink butterfly that appears to date from the 1890s.