Clarke put the same obsessive care into this fabric commission as he did into his stained-glass masterpieces. The original is in the National Gallery of Ireland. He drew it in 1918, between Poe commissions, for a Belfast fabric company. Beauty was never a sideline for him.
Couldn't load pickup availability
Quantity
Free Worldwide Shipping
Ships in 2–5 Business Days
30-Day Quality Guarantee
Jewel-toned butterflies with the same obsessive linework Clarke brought to stained glass — just turned toward something lighter.
Butterfly Textile Design (1918–19)
While Clarke was deep in his illustrations for Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination, he was simultaneously working a commission for Sefton Fabrics in Belfast — handkerchief and dress fabric designs. He liked keeping several jobs running at once. This butterfly design is one of the finest things to come out of that parallel work: the same hand, a different register.
The original (NGI.7962) — ink and watercolour on paper, 23.6 × 18 cm — hangs in the National Gallery of Ireland.
About Harry Clarke (1889–1931)
Dublin-born and trained in the Arts and Crafts tradition, Clarke brought the intensity of stained-glass design into everything he touched — illustration, textile design, book covers, metalwork. He died of tuberculosis at 41. The work never went out of print.
Sizes & Format
30 × 40 cm / 12 × 16″
45 × 60 cm / 18 × 24″
60 × 80 cm / 24 × 32″
Available framed (black, white, wood) or unframed
Print & Frame Details
Archival matte paper, 250gsm (110lb), acid-free and FSC-certified — off-white, uncoated. Framed prints: solid oak or ash wood frame, 20mm thick, with shatterproof protective glazing. Ready to hang, hanging kit included. Unframed prints up to A4 ship flat; larger sizes ship rolled in a protective tube.
Free Worldwide Shipping
Framed prints are packed with protective corners and wrap, boxed with reinforced edges, and braced with internal supports for extra rigidity (max 3 frames per package). Every order ships free, made to order and delivered from the hub closest to you: Ireland 3–7 business days · UK 4–8 · USA 5–10 · Canada 6–12 · Australia 7–14.
