Sunflowers, Marché St Germain, Paris |  Hunterian Art Gallery (49908) | |
| Number: | 437 | |
| Date: | 1888/1893 | |
| Medium: | etching | |
| Size: | 223 x 282 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at upper centre | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 1 | |
| Known impressions: | 5 | |
| Catalogues: | K.422; M.417; W.258 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (5) | ||
Sunflowers, Marché St Germain probably dates from 1888, but could date from later, in the 1890s.
The form of the signature, a butterfly on a trefoil, suggests a date after Whistler's marriage in August 1888, when he combined his butterfly with Beatrice Whistler's monogram 'BP' (from her maiden name Beatrice Philip) in the form of a trefoil.
Since it shows sunflowers in full bloom, the etching must date from late summer or early autumn. It may have been done during the Whistlers' honeymoon in 1888, when they visited Paris en route to the Loire valley.
However, the signatures in pencil on the prints suggest a slightly later date, of the early 1890s, possibly after the Whistlers settled in Paris in 1892.