Bibi was the 'patron's' son at a restaurant in the Rue Dauphine, Paris, famous for its burgundy, where Whistler and other members of the Société des Trois, Fantin-Latour and Legros, regularly took their meals. According to the Pennells, the artist owed Lalouette 3,000 francs when he left Paris.

James McNeill Whistler is one of the first and most illustrious artists to show in our galleries. He made a stand for the cause of art for art’s sake, and this cost him dear. Although he won the case, he was bankrupted by the costs of his libel action against the critic John Ruskin. Ruskin had complained about Whistlers Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, saying ‘I have seen, and heard, much of Cockney impudence before now; but never expected to hear a coxcomb ask two hundred guineas for flinging a pot of paint in the public’s face.’ Whistler was incensed and decided to sue Ruskin for libel. Our first managing director and gallery manager: Marcus B. Huish and Ernest Brown financed Whistler’s stay in Venice to work on a set of twenty etchings exclusively for The Fine Art Society.