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

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M.1266
r.: Butterfly; v.: Tail of butterfly

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1890/1892
Collection: Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Accession Number: 2006685424
Medium: r.: pen and black ink; v.: pen and purple ink
Support: off-white card, with printed butterfly on small, 16 x 13 mm (5/8 x 1/2"), rectangle cut from book (Whistler 1890), stuck to it
Size: 3 1/4 x 4 15/16" (82 x 125 mm)
Signature: butterfly
Inscription: 'Top No 6./ No. 6/ Page 331./ size.'

r.: Butterfly; v.: Tail of butterfly

Composition

r.: Butterfly, Library Of Congress
r.: Butterfly, Library Of Congress

A design for Whistler 1892 [more] . The printed butterfly stuck beside the drawing was printed on the 'Dedication' page in 1890, and was a little larger (12 mm, 7/16") than the tiny 9 mm (3/8") to which the drawing was actually reduced.

The drawing was used to illustrate the 'Moral' at the end of the 1892 catalogue, a quotation from the Illustrated London News: 'Modern British (!) art will now be represented in the National Gallery of the Luxembourg by one of the finest paintings due to the brush of an English (!) artist, namely, Mr.Whistler's portrait of his mother.' (Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother [YMSM 101])

Last updated: 19th March 2021 by Margaret