The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Butterfly and tricolour flag was drawn in 1899 as an illustration for Whistler 1899 (F)[more].

Butterfly and tricolour flag, Glasgow University Library

It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1560).

Images

Subject

Description

Butterfly and tricolour flag, Glasgow University Library

A butterfly with long wriggly barbed tail shooting upwards in rays of light through the clouds, with shaded areas suggesting a tricolour flag behind it.

Comments

In 1894 William Eden (1849-1915) commissioned a portrait of his wife Sybil Frances Grey, Lady Eden (1867-1945). Whistler, dissatisfied with the amount (100gns) and manner of payment, retained and altered the portrait (Brown and Gold: Portrait of Lady Eden y408). After an appeal, in December 1897, the Court de Cassation let him retain the portrait but return the money. Whistler was well satisfied to see the Code Napoléon altered, to specify an artist's right to decide the fate of his works.

Whistler planned to publish an account of the affair, a compilation of letters, newspaper reports and legal documents, with William Heinemann (1863-1920), who had published the Gentle Art of Making Enemies in 1890. There was some problem with publishing in London, and, with Heinemann’s tacit agreement, Louis-Henry May in Paris took over the publication. A first proof was run off, using mainly butterflies originally drawn for the Gentle Art of Making Enemies. These butterflies were mostly replaced by new ones, in a second proof. There are at least two versions of some of the designs. They were slightly reduced in size in the final publication.

For the book, Whistler designed 15 butterflies, a club (A club on a cushion m1564), and a frog (Frog m1553). He also drew some butterflies which were not used (v.: Butterfly; r.: see No. 1268 m1572, Butterfly with chequered wings m1578, r.: Butterfly; v.: Butterfly with chequered wings m1579). The Baronet and the Butterfly was comparatively sparing of butterflies. Many marginal annotations, which in the Gentle Art of Making Enemies would have warranted a butterfly, did not get one. Some of the butterflies were very badly reproduced (r. and v.: Butterfly m1561, r.: Butterfly 'Encountered'; v.: Butterfly m1562). There were obviously publication problems, and it was not an entirely satisfactory venture. However, Whistler did not admit of criticism and seems, publicly, to have been entirely satisfied with the outcome.

Technique

Composition

Butterfly and tricolour flag, Glasgow University Library

Butterfly and tricolour flag in Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly, p. viii, Glasgow University Library

This is the last of several designs, and was the one selected for publication in Whistler 1899 (F)[more]. It was published at the end of the 'Argument', after 'AND IT IS GRAVEN UPON THE TABLETS OF THE CAUSES CLEBRES - AND THE NEW LAW IS ADDED TO THE CODE NAPOLON! AND THE NAME THEREOF IS FAMOUS FOREVER!'.

Technique

The tail was scraped out with a knife and partly redrawn. Misreading the instructions, the engraver separated the lines of overlapping shading on the cloud to right of the butterfly rather than on the wing.

Conservation History

The paper is dark cream. This is one of several drawings inset into sheets before being bound into a copy of the The Baronet and the Butterfly.

History

Provenance

• 1921: bought from W. Brown, 17 Filmer Road, Fulham, London, by Pickford Robert Waller (1849-1930).
• Date unknown: bought from Sherman Lurie, New York, by Hans Peter Kraus (1907-1988), New York bookseller;
• 1978: bought from H. P. Kraus by the University of Glasgow.

The early provenance is unknown.

Exhibitions

It was not, as far as is known, exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 1560) as 'Butterfly and tricolour flag'.

Authored by Whistler

• Whistler, James McNeill, Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly. A Valentine with a Verdict, Paris: Louis-Henry May, 1899, p. viii.