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Café Luxembourg

Impression: Freer Gallery of Art
Freer Gallery of Art
(1902.119)
Number: 436
Date: 1888/1893
Medium: etching
Size: 98 x 135 mm
Signed: butterfly at upper left
Inscribed: no
Set/Publication: no
No. of States: 1
Known impressions: 1
Catalogues: K.434; M.425
Impressions taken from this plate  (1)
Café Luxembourg probably dates from 1888. The butterfly signature, with a dark, shaded trefoil behind its wings, indicates that it was drawn after Whistler's marriage to Beatrice Whistler (1857-1896). The subject, being French, suggests it was done either on their honeymoon in 1888 or when they settled in Paris in the early 1890s.
The size of the copper plate - similar to Resting by the Stove 372, J.H. Woods' Fruit Shop, Chelsea 327, Bird Shop - Seven Dials 384, Château de Bridoré 409, Place Daumont, Tours 390, The Hangman's House, Tours 393 and Petite Rue au Beurre, Brussels 341 - would suggest a date between 1887 and 1889.
However, the sole impression of Café Luxembourg is recorded as being sold in 1902 () and it is possible that it dates from later.