Object Details
- Label
- These were drawn for publication in The Gentle Art of Making Enemies. The top-left butterfly for p. 261 looks defiant and self-righteous. He was placed at the end of "Et Tu Brute," Whistler's angry response to his former friend, the poet Algernon Swinburne, who dared to criticize inconsistencies in the Ten O' Clock Lecture. The top right butterfly, with its gladiatorial stance, is similar to several illustrations but does not correspond to a published insect. The bottom-left butterfly appears on the title page of The Gentle Art. He is self-assured and entirely pleased with himself, setting the tone for the pages that will follow. Although the last figure on this sheet was abandoned, it relates to the butterfly diagonally opposite and may be an initial sketch.
- Provenance
- To 1904
- Obach & Co., London, to 1904 [1]
- From 1904 to 1919
- Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Obach & Co. in 1904 [2]
- From 1920
- Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
- Notes:
- [1] See Original Whistler List, Drawings, pg. 2, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
- [2] See note 1.
- [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
- Collection
- Freer Gallery of Art Collection
- Exhibition History
- James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art (May 11, 1984 to December 5, 1984)
- Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Drawings, Etchings, and Lithographs, 1959 (April 15, 1959 to November 2, 1959)
- Previous custodian or owner
- Obach & Co. (1884-1911) (C.L. Freer source)
- Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
- Data Source
- Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
- Artist
- James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
- Date
- ca. 1890
- Credit Line
- Gift of Charles Lang Freer
- Medium
- Crayon on paper
- Dimensions
- H x W: 28.6 x 22.2 cm (11 1/4 x 8 3/4 in)
- Type
- Drawing
