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

 

M.1263
Butterfly

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1890/1892
Collection: Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Accession Number: 2006685428
Medium: pen and black ink
Support: cream card, with printed butterfly on small square of paper cut from a book (Whistler 1890, p. 105) stuck to it
Size: 5 1/6 x 7 1/4" (123-127 x 182 mm)
Signature: butterfly
Inscription: 'Top/ page 309./ size / No. 3', and in an unknown hand '¼'

Butterfly

Description

Butterfly, Library Of Congress
Butterfly, Library Of Congress

The butterfly is derived from Whistler's monogram 'JW', with, in addition, a barbed tail, and a trefoil background. It was designed for Whistler 1892 [more] . A cut-out butterfly from the first edition of The Gentle Art of Making Enemies is stuck on the recto.

Last updated: 19th March 2021 by Margaret