--James Abbott McNeill Whistler

Whistler defended this painting, his "Nocturne in Black and Gold (The Falling Rocket), in court when he sued art critic John Ruskin, who accused Whistler of "flinging a pot of paint in the public's face" for libel. He won the case, but received only a farthing in damages and got stuck with the court costs, which ended up ruining him financially.
Now, doesn't that just make you want to go and scandalize someone with your sensualist ways? Maybe I shouldn't implicate you, but I bet I'm at least partly right. Maybe don't take your hater to court, maybe that's part of the lesson.