Nature and Art, June 1, 1866.] 
AET NOTES EEOM FBANCE. 
27 
PARISIAN 
My Dear Mr. Editor, — Allow me to offer you for the 
first number of Nature and Art, a true woman’s con- 
tribution, a chapter on Bonnets. They say the men have 
all lost their heads on the Continent, and that there is no 
knowing' what may happen in Germany and Italy. If the 
ladies have not lost their heads, they have almost ceased to 
provide bonnets for them, although they do wear certain 
gossamer fabrics sometimes no bigger than the palm of the 
hand, to which it is rather daring to give the name of 
chapeaux. However, no matter what they are called, so 
long as they look pretty. I send you ten portraits, both lady 
and chapeau, in some instances from the life ; but you must 
excuse my telling you which of the faces are real, and which 
imaginary. It is enough, I think, to assure you that all my 
sketches are those of real chapeaux that I have seen on the 
racecourse, in the Bois de Boulogne, in the Champs-Elysees, 
and other promenades during- the first week of this present 
flowery and, I may add, showery month of May. 
I do not know exactly what my own dear countrywomen 
are wearing on their heads just now, but I challenge them 
to produce ten specimens, except from the secret drawer of 
their fancy, to outdo those which I have the pleasure of now 
sending you. 
Fig. 1. 
Chapeani JBenoiton, so named after the heroines of 
Victorien Sardou’s successful play at the Yaudeville. A 
pink fcmchon formed of bouillons of tulle, ornamented outside 
with a moss-rose. Inside is placed a torsade of pink velvet 
with three cameos linked together by a jet chain. The brides 
are of taffetas, with long barbes of pink tulle, fastened by a 
rose beneath the chin. A chaine JBenoiton in jet is attached 
to the chapeau just over the ears, and falls in festoons over 
the brides. 
Fig. 2. 
A charming capote composed entirely of violets ; a chain 
of the same flowers falls upon the chignon. Green brides 
with a small bouquet oi; violets on the bow. A fringe of glass 
drops ornaments the front. 
Fig. 3. 
The Papillon, a very dashing chapeau. Tiny bouillons of 
white tulle radiate from the centre, whereon is posed, with 
its wings outspread, a beautiful yellow.butterfly. A wreath 
of forget-me-nots ornaments the edge of the chapeau, and 
CHAPEAUX. 
the bovAUons are dotted with these sweet little flowers. 
The brides are of pale blue taffetas. 
Fig. 4. 
No. 4 is a pretty Leghorn hat, forme Japonaise, so much 
cl la mode just now. The only ornament is a delicate 
garland of roses, pompons and leaves. 
Fig. 5. . 
A small cliapedu in fancy straw, christened the Pamela. 
Bound the edge is placed a wreath of small, bright-red 
poppies, and the brides, instead of being attached in front, 
pass round under the chignon, and are tied behind. 
Fig. 6. 
A charming fantaisie — which we will call the Berger. 
Very small, very simple, very becoming to a pretty brunette. 
A tiny circle in Leghorn, surrounded by a wreath of fairy 
damask roses. The long cherry ribbon which forms the 
brides passes over the chapeau and is attached under the 
hair. 
Fig. 7. 
A delicious spring chapeau, forme Japonaise, entirely 
covered with the beautiful lily-of-the-valley, whose sweet, 
white bells mingle gracefully with the curls of the coiffure. 
| Long barbes of white tulle, tied beneath the chin, make a 
charming substitute for the everlasting taffetas brides. 
Fig. 8. 
A delightful composition of guipure and tulle, embroidered 
with white bugles ; a fringe of the same is placed all round 
the chapeau. The strings are in white satin. 
Fig. 9. 
The toque CMnoise in Leghorn. The novelty in this hat 
is the pointed crown, for we have seen the green velvet 
bordwe and seagull’s wing many times before. 
Fig. 10. 
A grey and white fancy straw capote, edged with a 
garland of double violets, and attached beneath the chin by 
straw-ooloured taffetas. 
Should my notes on chapeaux be acceptable to your lady 
readers, I shall be happy to send you from time to time a few 
other jottings. K. E. F. 
ART NOTES FROM FRANCE. 
By G. W. Yapp. 
I T will be a dark day for art wlien the moderns 
shall cease to study the works of Michael 
Angelo, Raphael, and the other grand old masters ; 
but it is a promising sign that the worship of 
certain styles, the slavish imitation of certain 
manners, the servile prostration of the artist of the 
present day before the masters of the past, is melt- 
ing away in the warm influence of free thought 
and extended knowledge. Few nations have 
exhibited a more extraordinary combination of 
practical ability and pedantry in art than our able 
and sprightly neighbours, the French. Having- 
acquired great power in the delineation of the 
human figure, considerable skill in composition, 
and marvellous facility in execution, French artists 
remained for years chained to the car of some great, 
and not unfrequently of some little, master, whom 
they followed with blind zeal, until accident raised 
up another in his place, whom they followed in 
turn with the same zeal and the same slavishness. 
There still exists much of this classic mania, this 
adherence to a model, this absence of independence, 
amongst the artists, connoisseurs, and critics of 
France, but considerable improvement has taken 
place during the last few years ; some of the idols 
have been examined, found unworthy, and cast 
aside, and if some new ones have been set up in 
their place, the fetishism is not so absolute, and 
an artist or critic may now think for himself in 
art without being denounced as an infidel. 
