Public collection via the Art Institute of Chicago
AT-00004645Butterfly (recto); Study of Butterfly (verso)
Inscriptions
Inscribed recto, middle right, in black-brown ink, in Whistler's hand: "[length measurement] size from top of body / to lowest point of tail" (written sideways); inscribed recto, lower right, in graphite, in Whistler's hand: "The Baronets indiscretions"; inscribed recto, middle right, in graphite: "2 5/8 full" (written sideways); inscribed verso, middle left, in graphite: "8" (written sideways); inscribed verso, lower right, in graphite: "oc 4123"
Provenance
Sold by Kennedy and Company to Walter S. Brewster (1872-1954), Chicago, October 11, 1920 [invoice; stamp (Lugt 2651 a-b), recto, lower left, in blue]; given to the Art Institute, 1933.
Exhibition history
Chicago, Albert Roullier Art Galleries, "Original Drawings by Old and Modern Masters," March 7-21, 1921, p. 5, cat. 47. Chicago, Arts Club, "Portraits of Whistler and Some Original Drawings by Whistler, Loaned by Walter S. Brewster," January 19-February 7, 1923, cat. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10. Possibly Art Institute of Chicago, “Summer Exhibitions, James McNeill Whistler - Paintings, Prints, Whistleriana,” July 20-October 29, 1939, cat. 7 or 8.
Publications
James McNeill Whistler, Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly. A Valentine with a Verdict (Paris and New York, 1899), p. xvii (ill.). Frederick A. Sweet, James McNeill Whistler: Paintings, Pastels, Watercolors, Drawings, Etchings, Lithographs, exh. cat. (Chicago, 1968), second title page opposite frontispiece (ill.). Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels, and Watercolours: A Catalogue Raisonné (New Haven, 1995), p. 562, no. 1561 (ill.).
Data retrieved from the Art Institute of Chicago on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- James McNeill Whistler / American, 1834-1903
- Date
- 1898/99
- Medium
- Pen and black ink over graphite (recto), and pen and black ink, with white opaque paint (verso), on cream wove card
- Dimensions
- 22.5 × 14.3 cm (8 7/8 × 5 11/16 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- pen and ink drawings
- Place
- United States
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Credit line
- Gift of Walter S. Brewster
- Accession no.
- 1933.292
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Open-access museum record · AT-00004645
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