PAINTED FANS OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES (ITALIAN AND
SPANISH)
The establishment of the Portuguese as a conquering power in the far
East dates from the first expedition of Vasco da Gama in 1497. Five
years earlier, Christopher Columbus had sailed westward over the
Atlantic, bearing a letter from his royal mistress to the great Khán of
Tartary, seeking India and far Cathay, and finding instead—America.
[Illustration: FAN OF FERRARA, OR ‘DUCK’S-FOOT’]
The three expeditions of Vasco da Gama, during the first twenty years
of the sixteenth century, together with the operations of Alfonso
d’Albuquerque, resulted in the complete supremacy of Portugal as a
trading power with the East. From Japan and the Spice Islands to
the Red Sea and the Cape of Good Hope, they were the sole masters
and dispensers of the treasures of the East,[83] and during the
whole of the sixteenth century enjoyed a complete monopoly of the
Oriental trade. As early as 1502, the King of Portugal obtained from
Pope Alexander VI. a bull constituting him ‘Lord of the Navigation,
Conquests, and Trade of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and India,’ but it
was not until 1516 that the Portuguese made their appearance in China,
where, ‘at Ningpo, they succeeded in establishing a colony, carrying on
a gainful trade with other parts of China, as well as with Japan.’[84]
It was thus that the folding-fan found its way first to Portugal
through its traders.
This introduction of the folding-fan into Europe marks the beginning
of a new era of the fan’s history, as, although both Chinese and
Japanese fans possess qualities which are absolutely individual and
unique, yet it must be confessed that the fan, in the hands of European
artists, its early Oriental influence notwithstanding, ultimately
developed a character and style quite its own, and reflecting the
artistic conditions of its epoch and surroundings.
There are, however, considerable grounds for supposing that some
form of the folding-fan, as we now know it, existed in Europe at a
period considerably anterior to the Portuguese expedition to the East.
Viollet-le-Duc, _Dictionnaire Raisonné du Mobilier Français_, makes
a remarkable statement in connection with some thin metal fragments
which were unearthed during some excavation at the Château de Pierre.
These fragments, says this distinguished author, which are very
characteristic of a fan constructed like those of our own times, should
be anterior to the siege of 1422, as they were found in the carbonised
débris belonging to that epoch. They are composed of an alloyed metal,
_cuivre et argent_. The piece _B_ represents one of the outside flats,
and was fixed to a guard of wood or very thin metal, to which was glued
the stuff, or vellum; the piece _A_ one of the branch pieces or brins.
M. Viollet-le-Duc infers from the fact of the pieces not being pierced
at the handle end, but finished with a cross, that the branches were
tied with a silken cord, which would also be attached to the waist
belt; he points out the great antiquity of the flabellum (doubtless
meaning the cockade form), and concludes by saying, ‘It is difficult to
allow that the fan, which is merely a derivation of it (_qui n’en est
qu’un dérivé_), was not in use until the sixteenth century, as several
writers have contended.’
[Illustration:
Photo by J. Leroy.
Découpé Fan.
Musée de Cluny.]
M. Viollet-le-Duc’s meaning as to the probable construction of this fan
is not so clearly stated as might possibly be desired. We take it that
these pieces were but the ornaments of a folding-fan formed of ivory,
wood, or other material on the modern principle—that the large piece
_B_ formed the shoulder, to be completed by another piece forming
the guard proper. However this may be, and whether these pieces really
formed part of a folding-fan or not, this author, in the concluding
portion of his note, has expressed a truth which it is not possible to
gainsay, viz. that the principle of the folding-fan already existed, in
the form of the cockade, and that it is only necessary to divide the
cockade in two parts, and to protect the ends with some firm substance,
to arrive at the folded fan as we now know it. Indeed this was
done—fans were carried towards the close of the sixteenth century which
consisted of a segment of a cockade, inserted in a long handle similar
to that of the plumed fan, thus uniting the characteristics of both
plumed and folded fan. Vecellio, _Habiti antichi et moderni di tutto
il mondo_, 1590, figures these small fans, of which two illustrations
are given. We are thus presented with a decorative development which
is gradual, reasonable, and complete, a development quite conceivably
independent of any importation from the East, and of itself bridging
over the gap that otherwise would have existed between two apparently
opposing types.
[Illustration: A]
[Illustration: B]
[Illustration: SMALL RIGID FANS. (From Vecellio.)]
Any speculations as to how this fan of M. Viollet-le-Duc came to exist
would therefore be idle; the type was no new one. We have already
referred to the pleated fan crest, seen on the heads of horses in
Phœnician and Persian monuments.[85] A similar fan crest appears on the
horse’s head in the
Brétigny seal of Edward III., engraved in consequence of the Treaty
of Brétigny, 1360, by which this monarch renounced the title of King
of France. This appeared again in the seal with the altered legend in
which he resumed the title—the period of its use, 1372-77. This same
seal with fan crest was used successively by Richard II., Henry IV.
(first seal), and Henry VI. (silver seal), the legend only altered.
A still more remarkable example is the large displayed fan crest (the
earliest authenticated instance of a regular crest),[86] in the centre
of which is a lion _passant_, on the top of the flat helmet of Cœur de
Lion (second seal, 1197-99), used after his return from captivity, and
quite possibly, therefore, borrowed from the East.
The fan-plume or panache appears also on the flat-topped helmet of
Alexander III., King of Scots (second seal); the horse also bearing the
fan-plume.
These fan crests are also seen on the seal of Richard Fitz-Alan, Earl
of Arundel; of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, 1301; and of
Edward of Carnarvon, Prince of Wales, 1305; and on the effigy of Sir
Geoffrey de Luttrel, _c._ 1340, showing a fan upon which the entire
Luttrel arms are depicted. A large fan crest, having little tufts of
feathers at each division of the fold, appears on the arms of the
family of Schaler, Basle; another is to be found on the common seal of
the City of London (dated 1539), charged with the cross of the city
arms. ‘In course of time this fan, in the case of London, as in so many
instances, has through ignorance been converted or developed into a
wing, but the “rays” of the fan in this instance are preserved in the
“rays” of the dragon’s wing (charged with a cross) which the crest is
now supposed to be.’[87]
[Illustration: FEATHER-FAN. (Milan.)]
[Illustration: Fan of Mica, Italian, decorated with painted
arabesques, ivory stick, guards with mica insertions.
Mr. L. C. R. Messel.]
With respect to the origin of these fan crests, we must go back,
says Mr. Fox-Davies, to the bed-rock of the peacock popinjay vanity
ingrained in human nature; the same impulse which nowadays leads to the
decoration of the helmets of the Life Guards with horse-hair plumes and
regimental badges, the cocked-hats of field-marshals and other officers
with wavy plumes.... The matter was just a combination of decoration
and vanity.
Notwithstanding the foregoing instances, it is abundantly clear that
the folding-fan, though it may have been in intermittent use during
these early periods, obtained no great vogue in Europe until the
sixteenth century, when it was in general use in Portugal, Spain, and
Italy, and that the prevalence of the fashion was resultant upon the
influx of Eastern manufactures.
The feather-fan, referred to in the last chapter, although regarded as
the sign of nobility, was occasionally carried by the wives of the rich
merchants of Venice. A noble Venetian matron carries a tuft fan with a
mirror in the centre garnished with pearls; the plumed fan is seen in
the hands of the noble demoiselles of Milan, of married Genoese ladies,
of the noble matrons of Siena, the latter of whom, together with the
ladies of Venice, Perugia, and other cities, also carried the flag-fan.
The smaller fan, with long thin handle, surmounted with five or seven
feathers set symmetrically, is carried by the Parmese, Ferrarese, and
Florentine ladies, and by the noble matrons of Genoa.
The Milanese ladies carried a fan made apparently of feathers, rigid,
and bound round in five sections. The married ladies of Naples and
Bologna carried rigid screens designed in the form of a cartouche of
the strap-work so usual in sixteenth-century Renaissance ornament. The
later hand-screens, seen in the engravings of Callot and others, were
obviously a development of this form.
The above instances are cited from the engraved work of A. de
Bruÿn,[88] in which also appears a long-handled fan of seven feathers
carried by a Turkish lady.
In an earlier work by the same engraver, _Imperii ac Sacerdotii
ornatus_, 1579, a bishop holds in his left hand the feather fan, in his
right a crozier.
In the art library, Victoria and Albert Museum, are several designs
for feather-fans and handles, by an unknown artist, but certainly
Italian, drawn vigorously with a pen and washed with bistre. In the
same collection is a design in pencil for the panache of a folding-fan,
in the Italian manner, displaying great knowledge of Renaissance design.
At the commencement of the seventeenth century, and indeed earlier,
small screens were the fashion, painted either with love scenes,
inscribed with suitable verses, or views of Italian towns, with a short
description, and were sold for a sum equivalent to an English groat.
The English traveller, Thomas Coryat, in his _Crudities_ (1608),
writes: ‘These fans both men and women of the country [Italy] do carry
to cool themselves withal in the time of heat, by the often fanning
of their faces. Most of them are very elegant and pretty things, for
whereas the fan consisteth of a painted piece of paper and a little
wooden handle, the paper, which is fastened at the top, is on both
sides most curiously adorned with excellent pictures.’ These, probably,
are the fans referred to above as seen in Vecellio and the work of
other engravers. Many were apparently rigid, and probably formed of
ivory or similar hard substance; the size would be about six inches.
They were by no means confined to Italy, but became the vogue in Spain,
France, and other countries.
A long fan, carried by a noble Neapolitan lady, is given by
Hefner-Altenek, in his work on costume. This is apparently rigid,
since no sign of pleating is apparent in the representation, which is,
however, small.
The colour is blue with decorations of gold, the figure taken from a
picture in an album in the possession of this author, 1596-1611.
Doubtless one of the earliest forms of the folded fan in Italy was
the so-called ‘duck’s foot,’ used by the ladies of Ferrara; the leaf,
which opened to a quarter of a circle, was formed of alternate strips
of vellum and mica, with delicately painted ornaments. The stick was of
ivory and consisted of eight narrow blades. Blondel would seem to infer
that this type of fan originated in France, and cites a contemporary
portrait of ‘un personnage du Bal sous Henri III.’ A fan, evidently the
‘duck’s foot,’ with a pattern agreeing with the system of mica or other
insertion, appears in an engraved portrait of Louise de Lorraine, queen
of Henri III.
This form of fan is, however, probably Italian in its origin; it is
figured by Vecellio, in the hands of a lady of Ferrara; it is also seen
in the earlier engraved work of de Bruÿn, above referred to.
Legendary accounts of the woes of the unfortunate Torquato Tasso, who
had dared to ‘lift his love’ to a princess of the house of Este, have
afforded many themes for the imagination of subsequent writers from
Byron and Goethe downwards. The story of the fan of Eleonora d’Este,
which was of the form above described, surmounted with rubies, is a
pretty one, and may be given for what it is worth.
On a day when reading to the princess his _Gerusalemme_, in which the
episode of Olindo and Sofronia in the second canto was intended as
portraying Tasso’s own situation with regard to her, his enraptured
listener, won by the charm of the moment, was on the point of yielding,
when, by a supreme effort, she recalled herself to her sense of duty,
hesitated for a moment, grasped her fan, kissed it, flung it at the
poet’s feet—and fled.
This association of vellum and mica appears to have been pretty general
for the leaves of the folding-fans upon their first introduction in the
middle of the sixteenth century. There were two different systems: in
the one, the decoration consisted of painting on the plain surface of
the mica or vellum, or both, as in the fan of Ferrara, or the Actæon
fan, described on page 146; and in the other, the leaf is cut to such
a degree of elaboration as almost to rival the finest lace, as in the
charming fan in the Musée de Cluny, illustrated.
The system of mica insertion was developed until fans were made
entirely of this material, with painted arabesque decoration similar
in character to that of the Actæon fan at Cluny, illustrated page 146.
An extremely interesting example is illustrated from the collection of
Mr. L. C. R. Messel. In this, the stick is of plain ivory, perforated
on the panaches, the blades numbering thirteen. The leaf is divided
into three rows of twenty-five panels each, decorated with a medley
of arabesques of children, animals, birds, and flowers, the panels
separated by narrow borders in blue and black.
Of découpé fans, no finer example could be given than that from the
Musée de Cluny, the stick of which is composed of ten blades of bone,
the two outer ones extending the whole length of the leaf, the rest to
a little less than half-way across. The leaf, which occupies exactly
three-fourths of the whole length, is of paper cut to an extremely
refined geometrical pattern of circles and lozenges, with small, and
even minute pieces of mica inserted at intervals, imparting a richness
and variety to the fan without destroying its lightness and elegance.
This type of fan appears constantly in the portraits, both painted
and engraved, of the latter half of the sixteenth century. It reached
England, apparently, about 1590, or a little earlier, and is seen in
the portraits of Queen Elizabeth painted about this date.
This art of elaborate perforation (découpé) is essentially Italian
in its origin, and was evidently practised to a considerable extent
during the period we have been considering. In the fan which has
become associated with Mademoiselle Desroches, the utmost degree of
elaboration is attained, and this example may be accepted as a type
of a number of fans produced during the seventeenth century and later.
[Illustration: Venus & Adonis by Leonardo Germo., stick tortoiseshell,
gilt. Italian, early 18th Cent.
Wyatt Coll^n V. & A. Museum.]
It was at a gathering of wits at Poitiers in 1579 that Étienne
Pasquier, perceiving a flea on the neck of Mlle. Desroches, exclaimed
that ‘la petite bestiole’ deserved to be immortalised. A collection of
poems in Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, and Italian, was published in
Paris in 1582, under the title of _La Pulce de Mademoiselle Desroches_,
the most felicitous of these plaisanteries being, according to La
Monnaye, from the pen of the lady herself.
The fan leaf, said to commemorate this event, once in the possession
of the fair Pompadour, and now in the Jubinal collection at Paris, is
of paper, elaborately cut to imitate lace. This leaf—the stick has
long since perished—was exhibited at the great exhibition of fans at
South Kensington in 1870. It bears five finely painted miniatures
representing the senses; in the centre picture (touch) a young man
places his finger on the bosom of a sleeping lady, the spot on the neck
presumably representing ‘la petite bestiole.’[89]
The charming fan in the possession of Mr. L. C. R. Messel was obtained
in Florence. The vellum leaf is finely perforated throughout; the
large centre cartouche and series of small oblong panels are painted
with exquisite minuteness and care. The character of the decoration
is that of the later years of the seventeenth century, the stick of a
subsequent date.
The great spirit of the Renaissance had well-nigh exhausted itself by
the time the folded fan had become the vogue in Europe. Michael Angelo,
the last of the Titans, died in 1564, and had lived long enough to
witness the gradual extinction of the school he in great part created.
Pierino del Vaga and Sebastian del Piombo had died seventeen years
earlier.
The eclectic principle, developed to its highest attainable point by
Raphael, Michael Angelo, Leonardo, was carried on by a crowd of men
working on similar lines, but possessing far less knowledge and power,
and what was vital truth in the work of the master was reduced to mere
affectation in the hands of the follower.
During the closing years of the century, Italian art, it is true,
received some sort of impetus as a result of the labours of the
Carracci, but the revival was short-lived, and it remained to Guido,
Guercino, Albani, Maratta, to continue the declension during the
seventeenth, to be followed by Tiepolo and Canaletto in the eighteenth
centuries.
It would serve no good purpose to quarrel with the painted folding-fan
on account of its inability to rise to the high ideals of the quattro
and cinque-cento. It belonged to a less spacious age, and if it
descended to banality, it was because the times had become banal: it
was entirely in tune with its surroundings.
It will be convenient, at this juncture, to describe in detail the
various elements composing this fan-type which has easily distanced
all others in the affections of the fair—a triumph so absolute and
complete, that to ninety-nine women out of every hundred the idea of a
fan is an instrument which may be folded.
The folding-fan, then, is made up of two principal parts—the stick (_la
monture_) _B B_ and the leaf or mount (_la feuille_)_ A_. The former
consists of a number of blades (_brins_) _C C C C_, which have varied
at different periods, and are folded between two guards (_panaches_)
_D_. The guard is made up of three dimensions: the handle-end (_la
tête_) _I_, through which passes the pin (_rivure_) _E_—this is often
jewelled; the shoulder (_gorge_) _II_, reaching to the lower edge of
the mount; and the guard proper _III_.
[Illustration: An Embarcation, stick ivory. silver piqué. Italian or
French. end of 17th. Cent.
Mrs Hamilton Smythe.]
[Illustration: Cupid’s Hive. Child’s Fan, or Pocket Fan. Italian, early
18th. Cent., 12-1/2 x 6-7/8.
The Dowager Marchioness of Bristol.]
The stick of the richer painted fans is composed of either ivory,
mother of pearl, tortoise-shell, or bone: often carved with great
minuteness, elaboration, and skill, and further enriched by gilding and
inlay, painted miniatures, enamels, and precious stones; that of the
less elaborate fan is of wood of various kinds—ebony, rosewood, bamboo,
etc. It is also carved, gilt, inlaid, or lacquered in different ways.
The character of Italian sticks is that of simplicity and reticence,
even to plainness, this being more in keeping with the generally grave
character of the mounts. In a number of instances the brins present
a perfectly flat, plain surface of ivory, relieved only by a little
carving on the panaches. This is ornamented in various ways, the most
characteristic method being that of gold and silver piqué. The work is
done by means of a drill, the metal pressed into the spaces.
One of these Italian fans of the end of the seventeenth century, with
plain white stick, is in the Wyatt collection, the skin mount painted
with the Storming of Jerusalem, and the miraculous curing of Godfrey de
Bouillon’s wound, the guards piqué with silver.
The beautiful Italian fan, with sea-nymphs upon a sandy shore,
once belonging to the unfortunate Marie-Antoinette, and now in the
possession of Mr. Burdett-Coutts, is an example of the best quality of
piqué work. The stick is of horn of a light transparent golden hue. The
panaches bear the crown and fleur-de-lys of France, and appear to be of
somewhat later date than the brins and feuille, which may be put about
1760. The fan was acquired in Paris during the troublous times of the
Revolution by the father of the late Rev. J. E. Edwards of Trentham,
and exhibited by the last named at South Kensington in 1870. Upon the
death of Mr. Edwards in 1885 it was purchased by the late Baroness
Burdett-Coutts.
Another method of ornamentation is that of delicate piercing, the
surface of the stick remaining flat and without carving. These pierced
ivory sticks are occasionally alternated with those of another
material, as light golden tortoise-shell, horn, and, in an instance in
the Wyatt collection, with a mount of classical landscape and Pompeian
ornament, pierced cedar.
The Italians, as also the Greeks, discovered early the resources
offered to the artist by the material of ivory. Ariosto in his sixth
elegy makes a charming reference to it in addressing his mistress:
‘As when ivory or marble wrought by the hand of the artist becomes
unchangeable, so my heart, more inflexible than these, though it may
fear the hand of the assassin, is incapable of receiving the image of
any new love to remove thine which is engraven upon it.’
The richest sticks are either those in which the piercing is associated
with carved panels or cartouches of figures, ornament, etc., with the
ribbed backgrounds familiar to us in Chinese workmanship, or those
of which the whole surface is treated in the most delicate relief,
exhibiting the most consummate skill of handling. This is occasionally
further enriched by gilding, silvering, and painting; in some
instances, these several processes are associated, with the addition of
mother-of-pearl and tortoise-shell inlay.
Mother-of-pearl is treated in precisely the same way as ivory, _i.e._
flat-pierced; pierced and carved; pierced, carved, and engraved; with,
in some instances, the addition of painting, and occasionally tinsel
and silvering or gilding.
The various kinds of mother-of-pearl used in the manufacture of fans
are as follows:—The Burgan or Burgandine pearl obtained from Japan; the
white pearl, ‘poulette,’ from Madagascar; a black mother-of-pearl from
the East. The shells being relatively small, it becomes necessary to
piece them together by a system of splicing. This is done so skilfully
that none but a practised eye is able to detect it. For the
process of inlay and incrustation, the splendid Eastern pearl called
‘gold fish’ is used. This, upon its introduction, caused a complete
revolution in the ‘éventail de luxe’; the magnificent rainbow tints of
this pearl are said to be further enhanced by a process invented by M.
Meyer.
[Illustration: Bacchus & Ariadne, after Guido, c.1830. 20-1/2 x 11-1/2
Lady Northcliffe.]
[Illustration: The Triumph of Bacchus, after Annibale Carracci,
19-3/4 x 11.
Lady Northcliffe.]
Tortoise-shell follows the same principle of decorative development,
and when piqué is employed, it is usually gold, as being more in
harmony with the colour of the shell.
The ‘éventail brisé’ dates from the period of the first introduction
of the folded fan into Europe. This is so named because it has no
mount, but is entirely made up of a number of blades, which may be of
any material—ivory, mother-of-pearl, the various woods, etc., and are
painted, carved, or otherwise decorated, fastened at the head by means
of a pin or rivet, and further connected with a ribbon running through
each blade, at or near the circumference of the fan.
The earliest are those which were imported in such large quantities
from the East, from the latter part of the sixteenth century
onwards. The Western modification of these is seen in that class of
fans produced in Italy and elsewhere during the latter part of the
seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, which consisted of a
system of flat, pierced scroll-work, of a somewhat severe and reticent
character. This was supplemented by panels _en cartouche_ painted and
gilt, with portions of the ornament enriched with gold and colour;
these usually opened out to rather less than a third of a circle.
Miss Moss of Fleet possesses an interesting example with a painted
‘pastorale’ of three figures in the centre of the fan, together with
lesser subjects _en cartouche_, the floral portion of the scroll
ornament being emphasised with colour.
In the Wyatt collection is an interesting example of about 1730, in
which the ornament forms a large cartouche in the centre, enclosing
a subject of two Cupids holding a wreath over a heart with a canopy
above. The cartouche is gilt and the figures painted; the lower portion
of the fan is painted and gilt with flowers in the Chinese taste. The
guards are carved, painted, and gilt; the connecting ribbon of green
silk ornamented with a pattern in gold.
This system was practised later, with the addition of carving in low
relief, the ornament having developed a rococo character.
Horn is treated in the same process of flat piercing: this was
extensively practised during the whole of the eighteenth century,
and many ‘minuet’ fans were made. A beautiful Italian example of
these ‘minuet’ fans is in the Wyatt collection, decorated with silver
spangles, with a white silk connecting ribbon.
Double or reversible fans open both ways—either from left to right
or the reverse. These were in vogue during the latter years of the
eighteenth century, and were made of various materials, but usually
ivory, with painted ornaments. The most interesting were, however,
those of sandalwood, with three printed medallions on either side of
the fan, giving twelve subjects. The device, although surprising at
first sight, is really simple, and consists of printing each blade with
portions of two different subjects in the centre, one set of halves
being exposed, the other covered by the blade next following.
These fans were common to most of the Western countries of Europe,
a large number being made in England with subjects after Angelica
Kauffmann and others.
The materials employed for the mount are chicken skin (so called, but
really kid subjected to a particular treatment), asses’ skin, vellum,
parchment, silk of various kinds, satin, lace, and paper.
The leaf or mount is sometimes single, but more often double. Those of
the richer fans are painted either in transparent colour or in gouache
(body colour); the latter, however, must not be applied too thickly on
account of its liability to crack.
[Illustration: Marriage of Cupid & Psyche, c. 1760. stick modern.
Mr Frank Falkner.]
When the leaf is ready for mounting,_ i.e._ after the painting is
finished, it is pleated in a mould consisting of two pieces of thick,
strong paper or cardboard, specially prepared with a coating of an
oily nature; the leaf being placed between, and the mould closed and
pressed. The brins are then introduced between the folds, and fixed by
means of glue. This mould was invented about 1760, and the manufacture
of it has remained since that date in the French family of Petit.[90]
‘This operation of pleating,’ says M. Duvelleroy (_Rapports du Jury
International, Exposition Universelle_, 1867, vol. iv.), ‘very simple
at present, was formerly very complicated; it was necessary for the
éventaillistes to exercise the most scrupulous exactitude; now the
mould dispenses with this care.’
Nothing that woman uses in the great art of pleasing can, however, be
considered simple; do you doubt this fact? asks Charles Blanc, speaking
of the modern collective mercantile system, rather than that of the
artist, who begins his work and carries it to completion with his own
hands. ‘No less than fifteen or twenty persons are employed in the
making of a fan, which passes through three series of operations—1st,
the work of the stick, in which are employed the cutter, the carver,
the polisher, the gilder, the inlayer, the riveter, and sometimes the
jewel setter, who inserts the precious stones; 2nd, the leaf, which
requires the designer, painter, or printer as the case may be; 3rd,
the work altogether, employing the gluer, and in the case of spangled
or embroidered fans, the embroiderer or sempstress, and the folder
or pleater.’ Finally, as in fitting, the last finishing touches—the
tassels, tufts, and marabouts are added by the deft hand of a woman,
and to quote again Charles Blanc, ‘when this formidable weapon of
coquetry is completed, it is enclosed in a case, like a well-tempered
blade in its sheath.’[91]
The most distinctive Italian mounts are those in which the whole
field is occupied by subjects, usually from classic mythology. These
are either direct replicas or rearrangements of the works of the later
Italian masters—Giulio Romano, the Carracci, Guido, Guercino, as well
as those French artists who either worked in Italy, or whose works
found their way to that country, as Poussin, who spent the greater part
of his life in Rome, Le Brun, and others. In these the chief interest
centres in the mount, which is usually deep, and generally of skin, but
occasionally of paper. The painting is in pure water-colour and also
in gouache. In many instances these leaves have never been mounted;
in others, the mount has been removed from the stick, and framed as
a picture. None can with any measure of certainty be traced to a
master-hand, although a fan appeared at the exhibition held in Drapers’
Hall (1878), which is declared to be by Pietro da Cortona (Berrettini),
1596-1667, and said to have belonged to the Marquise de Pompadour.
One of the earliest of these fan-mounts is in the possession of Mr.
J. G. Rosenberg of Karlsruhe; the subject Orpheus and Iphigenia, the
date about 1670. In the Jubinal collection is a Rape of the Sabines, an
original design by F. Romanelli, who was employed by Louis XIV. on the
frescoes in the Bibliothèque Mazarine.
Bacchus and Ariadne was a favourite subject—Guido’s well-known
composition in the Accademia di Luca, at Rome, being often pressed
into the service. The large engraving of Jacobus Freij was issued in
1727, and it is probable that the majority of mounts decorated with
this subject were produced after the publication of the engraving. The
version illustrated is from the collection of Lady Northcliffe; a skin
mount, with slight differences in the arrangement, was exhibited at
South Kensington in 1870 by Captain J. E. Ottley; a third is in the
cabinet of an American collector.
[Illustration: Bacchus & Ariadne, Italian, from a fresco at Pompeii,
18th Cent., bought in Naples by Lady Duncannnon.
Mrs. Bruce Johnston.]
[Illustration: Fan mount, Italian, from a fresco at Pompeii, gouache on
skin bought in Naples by Lady Ponsonby.
Mrs Bruce Johnston.]
The famous composition by Annibale Carracci in the Farnese Palace also
appears on a number of mounts; a portion of this picture forms the
subject of the centre medallion of Lady Northcliffe’s fan (illustrated).
The still more popular ‘Aurora’ of Guido supplied the subject of many
mounts, including one in the Schreiber collection, British Museum.
Fans painted with Raphael’s well-known composition of the ‘Marriage
of Cupid and Psyche,’ in the Villa Farnesina at Rome, appear in many
collections, the landscape being added; the example illustrated is a
typical one; the stick, however, is modern.
The fan in the Wyatt collection with the subject of Venus and Adonis,
by Leonardo Germo of Rome, is interesting from the fact that it is an
example of an artist, who, apparently, signed a number of fans, and
also from the circumstance that it formerly belonged to Benjamin West.
The mount is kid, the stick tortoise-shell, engraved, silvered, and
gilt.
A fan with the subject of the Triumph of Mordecai, signed ‘Germo,’ was
exhibited at South Kensington in 1870 by M. Chardin of Paris.
Another example in the possession of Lady Northcliffe has an
allegorical subject by Germo, on skin, the stick of ivory finely
carved, the guards mother-of-pearl.
Somewhat akin to the mounts above described are those elaborate
compositions finely drawn in India ink, with pen or brush, on skin
mounts, usually vellum. These, from the absence of colour, were used
as mourning fans, the sticks invariably of ivory, piqué, or carved;
they are included in most collections that make any pretension to
completeness. Lady Bristol possesses one with the subject of Bacchus
and Ariadne after Carracci; but by far the most splendid example of
this class of fan appeared in the Walker sale in 1882. This is a
crowded composition of the Triumph of Alexander (after Le Brun), in
which the conqueror is seated in a chariot drawn by elephants; on the
reverse the death of Actæon. The stick and guards mother-of-pearl,
carved with Cupids and ornaments, painted in panels with episodes in
the life of Alexander. Finely variegated gilding.
These fans are characteristically Italian, certainly Italian in their
origin. Their production, however, was by no means confined to Italy.
M. Duvelleroy has a Dutch example with ivory stick carved _à jour_, the
mount vellum, the subject on the obverse representing an embarkation
with numerous figures, on the reverse a dance of peasants with
musicians. (Illustration facing p. 192.)
Neapolitan fans divide themselves into two distinct classes or
groups—the first having a figure subject _en cartouche_ in the centre,
usually taken from classic mythology, the field being occupied by that
form of arabesque (grotteschi), so usual in Pompeian wall decoration.
This class of mount dates from the re-discovery and unearthing of
Pompeii in 1748, and its production was continued until the end of the
century and later. Two excellent examples are given from the collection
of Mrs. Bruce Johnston, formerly in the possession of Lord Bessborough.
The one with the subject of Bacchus and Ariadne, from a fresco at
Pompeii, bought in Naples by Lady Duncannon; the other of a sacrificial
subject, also from a Pompeian fresco, obtained in the same city (in the
eighteenth century) by Lady Ponsonby.
Many of these mounts have, in lieu of a single central subject, several
miniatures _en cartouche_, associated with arabesques similar in
character to those above referred to. A good example appears in the
Wyatt collection at South Kensington.
In the second type of Neapolitan mounts, the field is similarly divided
into panels, usually one superior and two inferior, representing views,
generally the bay of Naples with Vesuvius in the distance, forming the
centre panel, and Vesuvius in eruption, and a classic ruin on either
side. These, with other Italian views, as the Colosseum in Rome, form a
very large class; the panels being associated with arabesque or other
ornaments.
[Illustration: Piazza of St Mark, after Canaletto, skin mount, ivory
stick finely carved with characters of the theatre &c. painted & gilt.
Mr W. Burdett-Coutts. M.P.]
Another, important class of Italian mounts gives a view of some
famous building or place, occupying the whole field of the fan. Of
this, no finer example could be given than the magnificent fan in the
possession of Mr. W. Burdett-Coutts, M.P., of the Piazza of St. Mark’s,
Venice, after Canaletto (Antonio Canal, b. 1687, d. 1768). The mount
is skin; on the right is a group of performing acrobats surrounded
by spectators; on the left some strolling players, with peregrinic
theatre; on the reverse a view of Venice from the sea. The stick ivory,
carved _à jour_, with characters of the pantomime, some being gilt and
painted in ‘vernis Martin,’ others in the pure ivory; the guards carved
with marks and musical trophies.
These acrobats, one of the popular Venetian amusements of the period,
appear in ‘A Fête on the Piazzetta,’ school of Canaletto, in the
Wallace collection.
This fan, together with one of a similar class, with a view of St.
Peter’s at Rome, was acquired by the late Baroness at the Walker sale
in 1882.
Fans were made for children in Italy and most other countries during
the eighteenth century. These were both painted and printed, the latter
variety often having the numerals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, on the
leaf, doubtless as serving an educational purpose. A collection of
these children’s fans was exhibited by Miss Marie Josephs at Drapers’
Hall in 1890.
The beautiful Italian fan, ‘Cupid’s Hive,’ contributed by Lady
Bristol, is so charming in the skill of its painted leaf, and the
delicate carving of its ivory-jewelled stick, that it is difficult
to conceive of its having been placed in the hands of a child.
These fans occasionally appear in painted portraits, the Infanta
Margaretha-Theresia, by Velasquez, in the Vienna Gallery, being an
instance.
The foregoing includes all the principal types of fans produced in
Italy during the period we have under consideration; they each present
well-marked characteristics, and are therefore not difficult of
identification. We have abundant written testimony to the superiority
of the Italian workmen during the seventeenth century, and to the
extent of the Italian export trade in fans during this period and even
later. We have also the evidence of the fans themselves; we shall
see, too, how the Paris éventaillistes first learned their craft from
the Italian workmen who migrated northward. At the beginning of the
eighteenth century, however, a complete change had taken place in
the conditions of fan production, this period witnessing the rise of
the French export trade, and the middle of the century its highest
development, at which latter period Paris supplied not only Italy but
Spain, and to some extent England also. Of this we have more than a
hint from the pen of one of the most distinguished Italians of the
latter half of the century.
The fan of Goldoni’s comedy was one of the ordinary sort, ‘not worth
perhaps five paoli.’ The concluding lines of the play make it clear
that a considerable trade in the cheaper French fans was done in Italy
at this period (1763), and, by inference, that Paris fans had the best
reputation, unless indeed we are to suppose that this was a compliment
paid by Goldoni to the country of his adoption, from which, too, he
enjoyed a pension:
CANDIDA (_to_ SUSANNA). It is from Paris, this fan?
SUSANNA. Yes, from Paris; I guarantee it.
GELTRUDE. Come, I invite you all to supper, and we will drink to this
fan which did all the harm and brought all the good.
[Illustration: Spanish Fan, skin mount, painted in the Chinese taste.
stick ivory, richly carved.
Lady Lindsay.]
PAINTED FANS OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES—_Continued_
SPANISH
[Illustration: RIGID SCREEN (Carried by the married ladies of Bologna.)]
The Spaniards, says Henri Estienne, carried towards 1440 large round
screens garnished with plumes, and in the sixteenth century folded
fans, _éventails plissés_, enriched with gold and attached to the
waist by a gold cord. Of these latter, many, doubtless, were imported
from Italy; few, probably, were of native workmanship. A very small
pleated fan appears in the hand of a Spanish lady, illustrated in
Vecellio, 1590. The rigid flag-fan employed in Italy at this period
was also used in Spain, together with the various plumed fans, some in
the shape of a peacock’s tail; others formed of the feathers of the
ostrich, pheasant, parrot, and Indian raven. During the seventeenth
century and later, a large export trade in unpainted pleated fans
was done in Paris to Madrid and other Spanish cities, where they
were decorated by native artists; many were exported complete, the
authenticity of many so-called Spanish fans must always therefore
remain a more or less doubtful question. The well-known story of Cano
de Arevalo, given in Quilliet’s _Dictionnaire des peintres espagnols_,
sufficiently testifies to the extent of the Paris export trade and the
popularity of French fans during this period. This painter, who was a
capable miniaturist, finding himself impoverished after a period of
extravagance and dissipation, secluded himself for a whole winter,
produced a number of fans, and passed them off as newly-imported French
ones. The trick proved completely successful, for upon its discovery,
he was not only hailed as a master, but was subsequently appointed
_abaniquero_ (fan-maker) to the queen. Cano was born at Valdemoro in
1656, and was assassinated in a bull-fight at Madrid in 1696. From the
same source (Quilliet) we learn that Cano also ‘essayed water-colour
painting on a larger scale, but only succeeded with fans,’ which are
still esteemed, the few that are preserved.
This success of Cano must necessarily have given a considerable impetus
to the native production of fans, largely used from the fifteenth
century onwards by men as well as women.
In brief, the story of Spanish painting during the whole of the
sixteenth century is that of a general migration of Spanish artists
to Italy for purposes of study, with a consequent strong Italian
influence; and an immigration of Italian artists to Spain, chiefly at
the invitation of Charles V. The seventeenth century witnessed the rise
and full development of a purely native school of painting, headed
by Velasquez and Murillo, who, however, can scarcely be said to have
exercised any influence upon the fan, since they were painters pure and
simple, _i.e._ their works were distinguished by the qualities of the
painter rather than those of the designer; and, especially in the case
of Velasquez, their subjects were unsuitable to the fan.
We do not usually look to the last-named painter for elaboration of
detail. The folding-fan in the hands of the Spanish lady by Velasquez,
‘La Femme à l’Éventail,’ at Hertford House, would appear to be of
leather, judging from the colour and texture, with applied ornaments
at regular intervals. This is probably of the scented variety,
_peau de senteur_, made both in Italy and Spain at this period.[92]
We have already referred to the portrait of the little Infanta
Margaretha-Theresia by Velasquez in the Vienna Gallery, in which a
closed folding-fan is represented.
[Illustration: Rinaldo in the Garden of Armida, French, Louis XV. stick
tortoise-shells finely carved, painted & gilt.
Miss Moss.]
[Illustration: Capture of the Balearic Islands, 1759, Spanish.
Mr L. C. R. Messel.]
In the Prado at Madrid appear the following portraits:—
MENGS. Maria Giuseppa, Archduchess of Austria, a closed folding-fan,
jewelled.
” Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples, a folding-fan.
LOPEZ. Queen Maria Cristina di Borbone, a closed folding-fan.
GOYA. Queen Maria Luisa, a closed folding-fan.
The interesting fan representing the capture of the Balearic Islands
by the Spaniards in 1759 may be taken as of Spanish workmanship. The
subject is taken from a painting in the Escurial. The stick is ivory,
carved _à jour_ with three cartouches, painted and gilt; in the centre
appear figures of commanders on horseback, a march of troops on the one
side and warships on the other; the background ‘gold-fish’ inlay. The
paper mount is painted in gouache; and on the reverse is a view of a
fort. The style of the painting presents similar characteristics to a
fan mount in the Schreiber collection, British Museum, in which we are
introduced to a ‘Carrousel at Madrid,’ with a large square filled with
spectators appearing at the windows of the houses; in the centre of
the background is a pavilion with the king and suite, inscribed Carlos
III., and a performance of a number of horsemen led by the ‘Duque de
Médinacéli,’ the ‘Marques de Tabara,’ and the ‘Marques de Aztorga.’ The
leaf, which has been removed from the stick, is of paper, painted in
gouache. A fan of this subject appeared in the exhibition of fans at
South Kensington in 1870, in the possession of Madame Charles Heine of
Paris; the stick of tortoise-shell, carved and gilt.
This same king, who succeeded to the Spanish throne in 1759, figures
as the subject of two fan designs in the Schreiber collection, the one
representing his triumphal entry into Naples in 1734 on his election to
the crown of the Two Sicilies, with the subject inscribed in Spanish;
the leaf signed ‘F^o La Vega Hisp. Let. D.’; below the picture, ‘Miñado
por Cayetano Pichini Romano.’ The other, a companion fan design,
represents the sham-fight and siege of Gaeta in 1734 on the occasion
referred to above; a canopy bears the arms of Spain, and on either side
a trophy with the arms of Medicis and Farnese; the subject inscribed
in Spanish: ‘F^{oo} La Vega Hispa^s Bilbilitanus In^v e Delineavit Roma’
and ‘Mi^nado Por Leonardo Egiarmon Flamenco.’ Both these fan designs
are vigorously drawn with pen in bistre and worked with India ink, the
style betraying a strong late Italian influence.
One of the first acts of Charles, upon his accession to the throne, was
to enter into a treaty with Louis XV. known as the ‘Pacte de famille,’
by which these two kings of the house of Bourbon united themselves
into an offensive and defensive alliance. By the terms of this treaty,
signed 15th August 1761, Spain was obliged to take part in the war in
which France and England were then engaged, France hoping to avail
herself of the maritime power of Spain, and to prevent Portugal from
declaring common cause with England. Its only effect, however, was
to inflict upon her ally a series of disasters similar to her own,
Spain losing Cuba, Manilla, and the Philippine Islands, and France
Martinique, besides being finally expelled from Canada, thus completing
the work begun by Wolfe at Quebec some two years previously.
The sequel to these events was the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the
preliminaries of peace being signed at Fontainebleau on the 3rd
November of the previous year.
By the terms of this instrument, Canada, the islands of Minorca,
Grenada and the Grenadines, St. Vincent, Dominica and Tobago were ceded
to Britain, while to France were restored Belleisle on the French
coast, the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon near Newfoundland,
Martinique, Guadaloupe, Marigalante, Desirade, and St. Lucia in the
West Indies. Havannah was restored to Spain, the Spaniards in return
ceding Florida to the English, and agreeing also to make peace with
Portugal.
[Illustration: The betrothal of Louis XVI. & Marie Antoinette, Spanish,
skin mount, tortoiseshell stick, gold & silver incrustations.
Mrs Frank W. Gibson (Eugènie Joachim)]
In _La Revue Hispanique_, tome viii., appeared an article by M.
Gabriel Marcel, reprinted in pamphlet form under the title of ‘Un
Éventail Historique du dix-huitième siècle, Paris, 1901,’ describing
and illustrating a remarkable fan in the cabinet of a Parisian amateur
whose name is not given, commemorating the event above referred to.
The stick is ivory, carved with an agreeable pell-mell of cartouches,
gilt; the centre being occupied by a _conversation galante_ of four
figures in the costume of the Watteau period.
In the centre of the skin leaf, finely painted in gouache, is a stone
table carved in high relief with figures of Cupids, near which are
the Kings of France and Spain, each accompanied by a female figure
representing the respective countries, and bearing a shield of arms;
above, a figure of Peace crowned with olive leaves appears from the
clouds and directs the ceremony. In the middle distance is a tribune on
which are seated three female figures, with a cornucopia of abundance,
and the arms of France and Spain; above is a figure of Fame with a
trumpet.
In the more immediate foreground are the Kings of England and Portugal,
their identity being determined by the blazoning of the shields which
accompany them. Court officials, together with their ladies, complete
the composition.
The reverse, which is less interesting, and probably by another hand,
represents an architectural structure with, again, the arms of France,
and above, those of France and Spain entwined.
Although it is possible that the fan may be of Spanish manufacture,
it is more probably French, since it bears all the characteristics of
French work of the period of Louis Quinze. It was probably made either
for a royal princess, or for the wife of some prominent official who
took part in the negotiations of the treaty.
The classical revival of the middle of the eighteenth century was not
without its effect on Spain; fans being painted in this country also
with subjects from the Greek mythology. At the exhibition at South
Kensington in 1870, the Dowager-Countess of Craven exhibited a large
Spanish dress fan, the mount richly painted on vellum, with a centre
subject of Aurora and Zephyr, the floral ornaments embossed in gold and
spangled; the stick carved ivory and mother-of-pearl, with figures in
gold relief variegated and spangled, jewelled stud.[93]
Towards the middle of the eighteenth century onwards, a class of fan
was made in which the stick, usually of tortoise-shell, but also
of ivory and other material, was elaborately pierced and carved,
occasionally in the most ornate fashion, the brins numbering from eight
to ten, the guards wide, both being heavily incrusted with gold and
silver. The mounts of these fans were always narrow, measuring about
three-sevenths of the length of the stick. This class of fan, examples
of which appear in most collections, by general consent has been
associated with Spain, although, doubtless, it was produced in other
countries also.
One of the earliest of these fans, as well as one of the finest, is
that in the possession of Lady Bristol, described and illustrated in
the succeeding chapter, page 163. This, from the skill displayed in its
finely designed stick, and the style of its delicately painted leaf, is
more probably French than Spanish. Interesting examples of this class
of fan are given from the collections of H.R.H. the Princess Victor
of Hohenlohe-Brandenburg and Mrs. Frank W. Gibson. In the first-named
instance the stick is tortoise-shell, with gold incrustations of figures
of Roman warriors, musicians in the costume of the period of the fan
(_c._ 1780), Cupids, and other ornaments: the leaf a pretty pastoral;
the work, although probably Spanish, showing a strong French influence.
Mrs. Gibson’s fan belonged to her grandmother, who was a Spaniard;
the leaf, probably, represents the betrothal of Louis XVI. and Marie
Antoinette, Louis being but sixteen at the time of his marriage in
1770. The Austrian Court was closely allied to that of Spain; and this
subject, therefore, would naturally appeal to the Spaniards. A wedding
fan occurs in the collection of Lady Lindsay, having for its centre
medallion a lady’s dressing-room, with Cupid holding a mirror; on the
sides are a Cupid lighting his torch from an altar, and a Cupid with
bow and arrows. The stick of tortoise-shell, finely silvered and gilt.
CORRIGENDUM
Page 132, line 12 from bottom, _for_ H.R.H. the Princess Victor of
Hohenlohe-Brandenburg, _read_ H.S.H. the Princess Victor of Hohenlohe
Langenburg.
END OF CORRIGENDUM
[Illustration: Pastorelle, Spanish, c. 1780. skin mount, tortoiseshell
stick, gilt incrustations.
H.S.H. Princess Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.]
A remarkable fan in this same collection was brought from Madrid by
Lady Canning, who accompanied Sir Stratford Canning to Spain on a
special mission from Queen Victoria, and was given to Lady Lindsay in
1878. The stick is of ivory, finely and elaborately carved; the mount,
skin, painted in the Chinese taste; illustrated facing p. 127.
The character of Spanish work of the stick, which, with a few isolated
exceptions, never reached a high level of attainment, materially
deteriorated towards the close of the century. A fan appears in the
Schreiber collection, with ivory stick, indifferently carved and gilt,
the silk leaf having for its subject a large medallion of the surrender
of Minorca in 1782, with the English army evacuating the island,
and the Spanish flag waving over the fort of S. Phelippe; the sides
decorated with vases of flowers embroidered, painted, and spangled; the
subject inscribed in Spanish along the top border of the fan.
Of the treatment of the stick, two interesting examples in the Wyatt
collection may be referred to—the one, belonging to the early part
of the century, in which painted trellis-work in blue and brown is
introduced as a background to finely pierced and carved cartouches of
figures and other subjects, the ornament being enriched with gold; the
other with a paper mount representing the visit of the Queen of Sheba
to Solomon (probably a church-fan), the mother-of-pearl sticks engraved
with three figure subjects _en cartouche_, with elaborate scroll-work;
the leading features of the ornament, together with portions of the
figures, being emphasised with thin lines of gold, having an extremely
pleasant effect; _c._ 1750.
Spanish painting in the latter half of the eighteenth century
experienced some revival in the person of Francisco Goya, one of the
most extraordinary personalities who ever wielded a brush, and whose
greatness is only just beginning to be adequately recognised, chiefly,
however, on account of his etchings, of which he produced a number.[94]
If we may conceive Goya as ever touching the fan, the example
illustrated, from the collection of Lady Northcliffe, is just such a
one as he might have painted. At any rate this may be considered as a
typical Spanish fan. The silk leaf has in the centre a mounted picador,
with six medallions of bull-fights; above the picador are two Cupids
holding a shield of arms, with thirteen other shields along the upper
border, bearing the arms of Biscaria, Cordova, Majorca, Valencia,
Arragonia, Leon, Castillia, Navarra, Toledo, Gallicia, Andalusia,
Murcia, and Catalonia. The shields, together with the medallions, are
bordered with embroidered spangles; the ivory stick and guards finely
pierced and inlaid with gold and silver.
The charming spangled fan in the possession of Mr. Talbot Hughes may
also be accepted as of undoubted Spanish workmanship. In this, the
leaf is of white silk, painted with a female figure in a garden,
arranging flowers from a basket. The head is an applied miniature on
ivory, a device much affected by the Chinese; the necklace, seed pearls
appliqué; the dress completely of spangles. The leaf is enriched with
a border of gold and silver sequins of various forms, some being set
with crystals. The stick ivory, coloured, gilt, and decorated _à la
paillette_. The date about 1800.
[Illustration: Spanish Fan, Bull Fights, c. 1780, silk mount spangled
ivory stick carved à jour, gold & silver incrustations.
Lady Northcliffe.]
It has been shown, beyond any possibility of doubt, that during the
seventeenth century French exportation of this dainty article to Spain
was considerable, French fans enjoying the best reputation in that
country, as well as in Italy, and that this pre-eminence was maintained
during the succeeding century, the period of the highest development of
the fan industry in France; but while it is difficult to associate
the native Spanish workmanship with fans of the highest calibre,
a preference for the richer French fans having always prevailed,
it is certain that the production of the cheaper fans was, and is,
considerable, Valencia being the chief centre of the industry. It is
equally certain that in no country in Europe is the employment of the
fan so general, or the toy so gracefully wielded, as in this land of
light, colour, and romance.
Théophile Gautier (_Tra los montes_) thus refers to the importance of
the fan in Spain: ‘The Fan corrects in some measure the pretension of
the Spaniards to Parisianism. A woman without a fan is a thing I have
never yet seen in that favoured land; I have seen women wearing satin
shoes without any stockings, but they had, nevertheless, their fans,
which follow them everywhere, even to church, where you meet groups
of all ages, kneeling or sitting, praying and fanning themselves with
equal fervour.’
‘We should remember,’ says Disraeli (_Contarini Fleming_), ‘that here
[Cadiz], as in the north, the fan is not confined to the delightful
sex. The cavalier also has his fan; and, that the habit may not be
considered an indication of effeminacy, learn that in this scorching
clime the soldier will not mount guard without this solace.’
In Spain, as in China and Japan, there is a fan for every occasion—for
the street, where paper ones are used, these affording more breeze on a
sultry day than do lace or silk; for feast days, bull-fights,[95] and
the theatre, silk or lace fans, mounted on sandalwood, bone, ivory,
or mother-of-pearl. A favourite material is silk, mounted on a carved
wooden frame which opens and shuts easily, a most essential thing in a
Spanish fan, which is perpetually in motion, portraying the feelings
and thoughts that are passing through the mind of its owner.
The fan is in the hands of every one, from the merest baby to the big
toreador, who employs it as a means of exciting the ire of his bovine
adversary. It serves as convenient screen for the dark-eyed beauty,
who, seated in the balcony in the still evening, listens eagerly to the
impassioned serenade beneath.
At the theatre, says Blondel, nothing is more curious than the
manipulation of these instruments, playing with the expressive grace
which is a silent flirtation. Before the play begins, or during the
intervals, every one talks in the midst of a confused noise resembling
the buzzing of an immense swarm of flies. The curtain rises—all resume
their places; the conversation ceases; the fans, everywhere waving in
varied movement, gradually, one by one, tone down into regularity of
time; they flutter in captivating cadence, suggesting in appearance
a crowd of variegated butterflies, and charming the ear with their
delightful ‘frou-frou.’
It is this play of the fan (_manejo del abanico_) in which fair dames
and demoiselles have become such adepts, that it has been necessary
to coin a word to express this charming art. Thus, ‘abanicar’ means
the play of the fan, while ‘ojear’ signifies the language of the eyes.
These two manœuvres, remarks M. Louis Énault shrewdly, are closely
allied, and one alone suffices for a man’s destruction.
The fan, indeed, has its own particular language, more eloquent than
that of flowers—the Spanish _novia_ (lady-love) communicates her
thoughts by code to her _novio_ (sweetheart), as—engaged couples in
Spain being never allowed alone—woman’s ready wit has devised this
means of private conversation.
[Illustration: Spanish Fan, silk mount spangled, the head an ivory
miniature. necklace of seed pearls. c. 1800.
Mr Talbot Hughes.]
[Illustration: Fête de l’Agriculture, 1798, silk mount, spangled.
Mr LCR. Messel.]
The instructions are set forth in fifty different directions in a
little booklet published in German by Frau Bartholomäus, from the
original Spanish of Fenella. A few examples will probably suffice as an
indication of the method:—
1. You have won my love. Place the shut fan near the
heart.
2. When may I be allowed to see you? The shut fan resting upon
the right eye.
3. At what hour? The number of the sticks of
the fan indicate the hour.
4. I long always to be near thee. Touch the unfolded fan in the act
of waving.
5. Do not be so imprudent. Threaten with the shut fan.
6. Why do you misunderstand me? Gaze pensively at the unfolded
fan.
7. You may kiss me. Press the half-opened fan
to the lips.
8. Forgive me, I pray you. Clasp the hands under the open
fan.
9. Do not betray our secret. Cover the left ear with the open
fan.
10. I promise to marry you. Shut the full-opened fan very
slowly.
And so on, through the whole gamut of the language of love.
A shorter code has been published in English (duly copyrighted) by
M. J. Duvelleroy. This, although the principle is the same, differs
materially in the details; thus, ‘I love you’ in Spanish is to hide
the eyes behind the opened fan; in English, to draw the fan across
the cheek. ‘I hate you,’ in the former instance, is to raise the shut
fan to the shoulder in the right hand; in the latter, to draw the fan
_through_ the hand: either code being sufficiently expressive and
acquired with tolerable ease.