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

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M.1578
Butterfly with chequered wings

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1898/1899
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number: 1933.289
Medium: pen and black ink
Support: cream wove card
Size: 119 x 158 mm (4 11/16 x 6 1/4")
Signature: unsigned
Inscription: r.: ‘page 48 / Audacity’; v.: in unknown hands, '33.289/ 9/ a 4133'; collector's mark 'WSB' (Walter Stanton Brewster)

Butterfly with chequered wings

Butterfly with chequered wings dates from 1898/1899 and was drawn as an illustration for the book by James McNeill Whistler, Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly. A Valentine with a Verdict, Paris: Louis-Henry May, 1899 but not used.

Butterfly with chequered wings, Art Institute of Chicago.
Butterfly with chequered wings, Art Institute of Chicago.

It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1578).

Last updated: 19th March 2021 by Margaret