Composition

r.: Three butterflies, Freer Gallery of Art

v.: Four butterflies, Freer Gallery of Art

Designed for Whistler 1890 [more] . Parts of the butterflies were altered and one was rubbed out. The top one is like the butterfly on p. 225 in The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, but with different feelers; the second was used on p. 191, and the bottom one, crossed out, was not used.

On the recto is the signature for p. 191, 'Autre Temps autre Moeurs': a letter to the Editor, The Daily News, 26 Novembe 1886. On the verso there are two studies for p. 225, 'Aussi que diable allait-il faire dans cette galèrie": a letter to The Morning Post in April 1888. Whistler made a mistake when drawing the tail, and redrew the butterfly neatly, with the feelers a little further apart.