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Sunflowers, Marché St Germain, Paris

Impression: Hunterian Art Gallery
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.