In 1881, Henry Meux commisioned American artist James McNeill Whistler to paint three full lenth paintings of his wife, Valerie Meux, for 1,500 guineas. A fourth portrait in riding habit was also discussed but never commissioned. The first portrait, An Arrangement in Black, now hanging in the Honolulu Museum of Art, Hawaii, depicted Valerie as a woman of sophistication. Dressed mainly in black, she emerges from a black background. Her velvet dress, black, low-necked, is trim