A Tied-back Creature in Venice.

Bruce Herald, Volume IX, Issue 801, 9 May 1876, Page 6

A Tied-back Creature in Venice.

She wore a round hat put upon t] c back of her head, like the aureole of a saint, to which her sweet face gave her an appearance of kindred. Her bodice was close-fitting — indeed, drawn tight about the waist like the bark of a you \g, slender tree. Her scant skirt pulled tight in front so as to show her form, and " tied-back," terminated behind in a short fan-like tail, like the tail of the mermaid. She was mounted on shoes seven sizes too small for her feet — indeed, only her toea appeared to have accommodations in them, and the high heels coming under the instep tilted her forward and completed the grace of her carriage. When she walked she put down one little foot after the other as if each leg was as elastic as an iron rod. It was a great pleasure to see her pegging along, a thing of perfect beauty, like one of the drawings of a chimera by an old master. It is not by any means every wxmian who looks well in this singular coßtume, or who can put it on with just that last touch of art that conceals art. It needs ,a certain piquancy in the wearer, and I may

say archnesß and prettiness that all women — Heaven forgive me ! — do not have. Everybody knows that there is in che woman painted by Ghirlandajo, notwithstanding a ridiculous rigidity of outline and scantiness of apparel, a certain sweetness of face and purity of form which enchant even this faithless generation. Let no one suppose that I am ridiculing this costume or the woman who wears it worthily. Oa the contrary, I am trying to discover, upon principles of art, in what its quaint beauty consists. I suppose that is pre-Raphaelite. I only know that it attracts one in the street as the quaint figures of Giotto do in the frescoes, 'and that one is tempted to follow it and see that the wearer of it in motion— a new sort of angel, drawn in angular lines, astray in the world. Few, very few, attain to the high art of tying themselves back in an artistic and at the same time striking manner. It would be well if it were taught in our schools of design. — Charles D. Warner.