James Mac Neill WHISTLER. Portrait of Mallarmé. Grey-tinted lithograph on Chine volant, signed in the butterfly stone. Modern frame. In addition to the frontispiece (see above), Whistler commissioned Belfond to print a number of large-margin flying prints: 10 Japon, 15 Chine and 25 Hollande (Nectoux cat. no. 62 p. 218). Mallarmé thanked the artist on November 12, 1892 for the famous Hollande print "à mon Mallarmé!" (Austin V p. 144. - Musée Mallarmé, Vulaines-sur-Seine, since 1985). On November 14, Whistler received the proofs for the poet's friends (Barbier op.cit. p. 190). One of [15] volant Chine proofs, the wide margins of which have been greatly reduced by André Fontainas' framer (19.9 x 15.1). For tints, see previous no. André Fontainas (1865-1948), poet, critic for the Mercure de France (one of Gauguin's first lauders), art historian and fervent Mallarméan, wrote in his diary on December 22, 1897: "Yesterday, at Mallarmé's, an excellent Tuesday. For so long, the little room in the rue de Rome has been invaded by swarms of often unbearable intruders. This time, quite the opposite. I had arrived very early and was first alone with Mallarmé, his wife and daughter. He showed me Whistler's portrait of Geneviève, delightfully gray and pink, sitting in a large armchair, looking quite charming. Then he let me choose a copy of his portrait, also by Whistler (the one from Vers et Prose)"... (De Stéphane Mallarmé à Paul Valéry. Notes d'un témoin 1894-1922. Paris, Ed. Bernard, (1928), n.p.). Let's quote these two famous praises: "This portrait is a marvel, the only thing ever done after me, and I smile at it" (Marchal Corr. 1825). - "Whistler / according to whom I defy / The centuries, in lithography", distique on Japan No. 1 of Vers et Prose (Austin V p. 144). The margins are thinned, 3 tiny scratches towards the bottom, but the field is absolutely intact. Provenance: André Fontainas by inheritance (then reframed), [cf. no. 6].