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

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M.1264
r.: Butterfly; v.: Part of a butterfly

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1890/1892
Collection: Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Accession Number: 2006685423
Medium: r.: pen and black ink; v.: pen and purple ink
Support: off-white card with printed butterfly on small rectangle stuck to it, cut from a rejected proof from a book (Whistler 1890), p. 242
Size: 5 1/16-5 1/14 x 5 3/8-5 1/2" (129-133 x 136-140 mm)
Signature: butterfly
Inscription: 'Top/ Page 32l/ Size or a little smaller/ [crossed out: No. 4.] No. 5.', and, in an unknown hand, '3/16'
print

r.: Butterfly; v.: Part of a butterfly

Composition

r.: Butterfly, Library of Congress
r.: Butterfly, Library of Congress

A design for Whistler 1892 [more]. The butterfly is rolling about laughing at a statement by John Ruskin (1819-1900), '...There is no stone drawing, no vitality of architecture like Prout's.', which Whistler used for the catalogue entry on Nocturne: Blue and Gold - St Mark's, Venice [YMSM 213].

Last updated: 19th March 2021 by Margaret