Lady in Black Velvet was Robert Henri’s second portrait of the artist Eulabee Dix. Painted first in her white wedding gown, Dix strikes the same pose in this work but wears black velvet against a dark background, as if to suggest the extinguished promise of domestic happiness. In fact, her marriage would end in bitter divorce fifteen years later. Lady in Black Velvet made its New York debut to critical acclaim in November 1911 at the first of several exhibitions Henri organized at the MacDowell Club.