Provenance

• 1873: bought by Louis Huth (1821-1905) for 600 guineas on 31 January 1873;
• 1905: on his death, passed by family descent to Edward Huth (dates unknown) ;
• 1923: acquired from Edward Huth by Harold Miller Pearson, 2nd Viscount Cowdray (1882-1933) ;
• 1933-1948: passed by family descent to his wife, Agnes Beryl Spencer-Churchill (1881-1948), and son, Lt Col. Weetman John Churchill Pearson, 3rd Viscount Cowdray (1910-1995);
• ca 1995: sold to an American collector.

This 'Arrangement in Black' was painted to complement the Huth’s collection of paintings, which included three works attributed to Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599-1660). The 600 guineas that Whistler was paid for the portrait of Helen Huth was the highest he had obtained for a single painting. 1 Only in the 1890s would he again sell at that price level to museums and American collectors. 2

Exhibitions

• 1874: Mr Whistler's Exhibition, Flemish Gallery, 48 Pall Mall, London, 1874 (cat. no. 3) as 'Portrait, "Arrangement in Black, No. 2" '.
• 1884-1885: Winter Exhibition, Society of British Artists, London, 1884 (cat. no. 299) as 'Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs. Louis Huth'.
• 1904: 78th Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1904 (cat. no. 324) as 'Mrs. Louis Huth'.
• 1905: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 53) as 'Portrait of Mrs. Huth', and, in deluxe edition, 'Arrangement in Black, No. 2; Portrait of Mrs. Louis Huth'.

Robin Spencer reconstructed the general appearance of the 1874 exhibition from press reports. Four full length portraits were hung on one of the 40 foot long walls, namely Arrangement in Black: Portrait of F. R. Leyland [YMSM 097], Symphony in Flesh Colour and Pink: Portrait of Mrs Frances Leyland [YMSM 106], Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour [YMSM 131], and Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth [YMSM 125]. Underneath were three of the so-called 'Six Projects', and below them, chalk drawings. 3

In 1884, a journalist called the painting a 'portrait study':

'At the end of [the] gallery the visitor will be interested in the large centre portrait study by J. McNeil Whistler, "Arrangement in Black," in which that enthusiastic painter paints one of those monochrome harmonies for which he has become renowned. The portrait is one of Mrs. Huth, in which the form of that lady is silhouetted, all detail being lost in the blending of the shades.' 4

The London Evening Standard described Mrs Huth as a 'flexible figure … dressed in clinging robes' and the portrait as 'sombre ... dignified and full of quietude - a refined, if not too fascinating, presence.'

'The Society of British Artists', London Evening Standard, London, 4 December 1884, p. 3.

St James's Gazette on 10 December 1884 added that 'It proves that Mr. Whistler could get tone and quality out of a pot of blacking; but that we knew before.'