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

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M.1357
Interrogative butterfly

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1893
Collection: Glasgow University Library
Accession Number: MS Whistler M199
Medium: pen and black ink
Support: printed carte lettre pneumatique, télégramme, pale blue wove paper, f.s. with serrated edges
Size: 5 3/16" x 4 3/8" (132 x 111 mm)
Signature: butterfly
Inscription: '110 Rue du Bac,'; 'PARIS 80 / RUE DE BAC / 27 JANV 93' postmark

Interrogative butterfly

Technique

Interrogative butterfly, Glasgow University Library
Interrogative butterfly, Glasgow University Library

Drawn with quick curved strokes in the same pen and ink as the address. The shaded trefoil behind the butterfly was used by Whistler after his marriage to Beatrice Philip (Mrs E. W. Godwin, Mrs J. McN. Whistler) (1857-1896). She signed her work with a trefoil monogram from her initials 'BP' (Beatrice Philip).

Last updated: 21st February 2021 by Margaret