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

 

M.1243
Three Butterflies

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1890
Collection: Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Accession Number: F1904.450
Medium: chalk, black wash and white paint
Support: thin grained tissue, possibly lithographic transfer paper, laid down on wove paper
Size: 7 11/16 x 5 1/4 -5 1/2" (195 x 134-139 mm)
Signature: butterflies
Inscription: none

Three Butterflies

Composition

Three Butterflies, Freer Gallery of Art
Three Butterflies, Freer Gallery of Art

Designs for Whistler 1890 [more] . The topmost butterfly was used for p. 71, signing Whistler's letter to Atlas ( The World, 16 February 1882) on Whistler's mispelling of Venetian titles. The middle butterfly was for p. 283, "Exit the Prompter": a letter to Henry Romeike (1855-1903), 25 April 1890. A line was corrected at right. The bottom one was used on p. 39, a letter to Thomas Taylor (1817-1880) published in The World, 15 January 1879.

Last updated: 14th December 2019 by Margaret