Portrait of Lady Meux

[1] She is believed to have met Sir Henry at the Casino de Venise in Holborn, where she worked as a banjo-playing barmaid and prostitute under the name Val Reece.

[2][3] James McNeill Whistler was an American expatriate and one of the most accomplished portraitists of his time.

Reportedly, the painting was commended by Edward VII of the United Kingdom (then Prince of Wales) and Princess Alexandra, when they saw it in the artist’s studio.

Whistler assigned many of his paintings titles with terms like “arrangement” and “harmony”, which may be interpreted as either musical or abstract.

This canvas was probably destroyed by the artist in a dispute with the sitter,[7] however a photograph of it exists in the Whistler Archives, University of Glasgow, Scotland.