This exquisite picture was the gem of Sir Robert Peel’s fine collection.
Its transparency and brilliancy are unrivalled: it is all but life
itself. It was bought by Sir R. Peel for 3500 guineas.
The name of “Chapeau de Paille,” as applied to this picture, appears to
be a misnomer. The portrait is in what is strangely termed a Spanish
hat. Why it has become the fashion in this country to designate every
slouched hat with a feather a Spanish hat, it is hard to say; since at
the period that such hats were worn, (about the reign of Charles I. in
England,) they were not more peculiar to Spain than to other European
countries. Rubens himself wore a hat of this description; and it is
related that his mistress, having placed his hat upon her own head, he
borrowed from this circumstance the celebrated picture in question. With
respect to the misnomer, it has been conjectured that _Span’sh hut_
being somewhat similar in sound to _Span hut_, Flemish for straw hat,
first led to the incongruous title “_Chapeau de Paille_.” Now, _Span
hut_, the Flemish name of this work, does not mean a straw hat, but a
wide-brimmed hat; and further, whoever has had the good fortune to see
the picture, must be aware that the woman is there represented not in a
straw (_paille_) hat, but a black hat. The French title, “Chapeau de
Paille,” is, therefore, and we think with reason supposed to be but a
corruption of _Chapeau de_ Poil (nap, or beaver,) its real designation.