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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2005.260
People
James Abbott McNeill Whistler, American (Lowell, MA 1834 - 1903 London, England)
Title
Butterfly for a Valance at Dowdeswell's Gallery
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
c. 1884
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/4654

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2100, European and American Art, 17th–19th century, Centuries of Tradition, Changing Times: Art for an Uncertain Age
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Graphite and watercolor on beige laid paper
Dimensions
7.3 x 7.6 cm (2 7/8 x 3 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • gallery label: printed: KONRAD ZIMMERMANN / RAHMANWERKSTÄTTEN / KUNSTHANDLUNG / BERLIN W - SCHILLSTR. 18
  • label: brown ink: Erworben / von Ernst Arnold Dresden / 21. April 1911
  • label: brown ink: JAMES MC. NEIL WHISTLER 1834-1903
  • gallery label: printed: established 1876 / THE FINE ART SOCIETY PLC / 148 NEW BOND STREET LONDON W1S 2JT Telephone 020 7629 5116 Fax 020 7491 9454 / faslondon@aol.com / [printed from computer:] November 2001 2490 / JAMES MCNEILL WHISTLER 1834-1903 / Butterfly Motif / Pencil and watercolour / Provenance: Ernest Arnold, Dresden, 1911; Konrad Zimmermann, / Berlin / Exhibited: The Fine Art Society, 2001, Whistler & Godwin (146)
  • gallery label: printed and typed: NUMBER 12786 DATE October 1984 / JAMES ABBOT [sic] MCNEIL [sic] WHISTLER / PRBA 1834-1903 / Butterfly Motif / Almost certainly a design for / an embroidery on the mantelpiece / valance for the Whistler Exhibition / at Dowdeswells in 1884 / ESTABLISHED 1876 / THE FINE ART SOCIETY PLC / 148 NEW BOND STREET LONDON W1Y 0JT 01 629 5116 / 12 GREAT KING STREET EDINBURGH 3H3 6QL 0315560305 / 134 BLYTHSWOOD STREET GLASGOW G2 4EL / 0413324027
  • label: printed: No. 70099 / PICTURE
  • (not assigned): in old inlay (removed). Inscription in conservation folder. : graphite: 12 [illeg]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Alexander J. Taylor.
Ernst Arnold, Dresden, 1911.
Konrad Zimmermann, Berlin.
Private Collector, Britain. According to MacDonald, offered for sale to Lowell Art Association (April 11 and June 24, 1953)
Nordness, London. 1962-1966
Fine Art Society PLC, London, purchased at Sotheby's, London, 1974.
Sotheby's, London, sold to Fine Arts Society, 1974. Sale, London, June 19, 1974, lot 50.
Patricia Cornwell, Belmont, MA, gift to Harvard University Art Museums, 2005.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Patricia Cornwell
Accession Year
2005
Object Number
2005.260
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
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Publication History

  • Margaret F. MacDonald, Notes, Harmonies, & Nocturnes: Small Works by James McNeill Whistler, exh. cat., Knoedler & Co. Inc. (New York, 1984), cat. no. 6, repr.
  • Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours: A Catalogue Raisonné, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT and London, England, 1995), cat. no. 958, repr.

Exhibition History

  • Notes, Harmonies, & Nocturnes: Small Works by James McNeill Whistler, Knoedler & Co. Inc., New York, 11/30/1984 - 12/27/1984
  • 32Q: 2100 19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 07/24/2023 - 07/30/2024

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu