All works › The Art Institute of Chicago

Butterfly

James McNeill Whistler, c. 1890

1.70 m

Both at true scale.

13 cm × 19 cm

About the size of your phone. You would need 9 of them to reach a person's height.

Against things you know the size of

Height: 19 cm
Width: 13 cm
Medium: Graphite on ivory wove paper
Kind: Drawing and Watercolor
Made in: United States
Where the measurement comes from: Measured by the museum. The dimension is the one recorded by the institution that holds the work.
As the museum records it: 19.2 × 12.9 cm (7 9/16 × 5 1/8 in.)
Credit: Gift of Walter S. Brewster

Five questions, answered from its own record. What is AGAI?

How big is it?: 13 cm × 19 cm. About the size of your phone. Measured by the museum.
When was it made, and when is it everyone’s?: Made c. 1890. It is in the public domain, and The Art Institute of Chicago publishes it for open use.
Whose is it?: Everyone’s to see. It is held by The Art Institute of Chicago: Gift of Walter S. Brewster.
How was it made?: Graphite on ivory wove paper, made in United States.
Who speaks for it?: Its record at The Art Institute of Chicago. Measured by the museum. This gallery adds nothing it cannot cite.

One email. The smallest thing in the collection, the largest, and two that hang well together.

Scored on colour, shape, era and scale, the same way the gallery hangs them.