Chapeau de Faille
Preserved but no longer current.
This is the name given to Rubens's portrait of Susanna Fourment, the sister of his second wife. It is in the National Gallery, London, and was one of the chief paintings round which the pro- and anti-cleaning controversy raged in London in 1947.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Chapeau de Faille” mean?
This is the name given to Rubens's portrait of Susanna Fourment, the sister of his second wife. It is in the National Gallery, London, and was one of the chief paintings round which the pro- and anti-cleaning controversy raged in London in 1947.
Is “Chapeau de Faille” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.