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

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M.1547
Title-page for 'The Baronet and the Butterfly'

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1898/1899
Collection: Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Accession Number: Manuscript Collection MS-4481
Medium: pencil, crayon and black ink
Support: white wove paper
Size: 310 x 198 mm (12 3/16 x 7 13/16")
Signature: butterfly
Inscription: 'Eden versus Whistler / The Baronet / & / The Butterfly / A Valentine with / a Verdict // Paris. Dec. 1897.'

Title-page for 'The Baronet and the Butterfly'

Composition

Title-page for ‘The Baronet and the Butterfly’, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Title-page for ‘The Baronet and the Butterfly’, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Title-page for ‘Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly’, Glasgow University Library
Title-page for ‘Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly’, Glasgow University Library

The butterfly was replaced by one with a barbed tail, Butterfly [M.1548], for publication in Whistler 1899 (F)[more] .

Technique

Whistler used blue crayon, and black ink, the butterfly being in black ink.

Conservation History

The paper is uneven, especially on the left where it was torn from a folded sheet.

Last updated: 17th April 2019 by Margaret