In 1876, a shipping magnate from Liverpool, England consulted James Abbott McNeill Whistler, American expat painter living in London, in redesigning his Far East-inspired dining room. At first, Frederick Leyland, the patron, asked Whistler for simple suggestions on paint colors for the space, as one of Whistler's portraits was to hang over the mantle.When the patron was away on business, Whistler impulsively seized creative control and redesigned the entire room, without financial support or consent from his client.
