Fan in Painting

Fun Facts about Fans

Anne of Denmark, Queen of England, Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger c.1611-1614

Anthony van Dyck Portrait of Maria de Tassis, c. 1629-30

LADY WINDERMERE. Arthur, if that woman comes here, I shall insult her.
LORD WINDERMERE. Margaret, don’t say that.
LADY WINDERMERE. I mean it.
LORD WINDERMERE. Child, if you did such a thing, there’s not a woman in London who wouldn’t pity you.
LADY WINDERMERE. There is not a good woman in London who would not applaud me. We have been too lax. We must make an example. I propose to begin to-night. [Picking up fan.] Yes, you gave me this fan to-day; it was your birthday present. If that woman crosses my threshold, I shall strike her across the face with it. (Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde)

Maximino Munoz

In 1878, Mr. George Augustus Sala wrote in the 'Catalogue of the Fan-makers' Exhibition at Drapers' Hall "If a thorn was the first needle, no doubt a palm leaf was the first fan."

Leaf-shaped fan of plaited reeds found during archaeological digs are related to third millennium BC.

Albert Joseph Moore Midsummer, 1887

In ancient Rome fans were called "flabellum", they were made with a long handle and required special slaves "flabellifers", who had learned the art of waving the fans gracefully and delicately.
Chinese folding fans were brought to Portugal with Marco Polo expeditions along the Great Silk Road in the 14th century, although the height of their popularity falls within the Renaissance time period.

Alexandra, Princess of Denmark, Princess of Wales, 1864 n

A fan could cost a fortune - Madame de Pompadour possessed one which cost 9 years of labor and £6000. It was made of paper most artfully cut to imitate lace and painted with miniatures.
The legend has it that in the 16th century Duchess of Mantua had a fan, decorated with rare emeralds. When the Duchess needed cash, she gave it as collateral to a Milan bank. At that time fans, with handles with a secret compartments for poison, were in great demand.

Laura Pola, ca. 1544

In the 16th century fans were introduced in France by the Italian parfumers who came n the train of Catherine de Medicis. In Italy and Spain men and women carried fans.

27 fans were enumerated in the inventory of Queen Elizabeth's wardrobe after her death.
In Egypt and Chine screen fans were carried as standarts of war in the 12th century BC.
In theater actors often wrote the text of a play on a fan.

Diego Velázquez Portrait of Lady with Fan, 1640-1642

The Language of the Fan was a necessity for the high society, living hectic social life in the Galant Era:
resting the fan on one's lips: "I don’t trust you"
fanning herself with her left hand: "Don’t flirt with that woman"

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Odalisque 1814

In the late 17th century fan-making became an important industry in England. In the year 1709 the Company of Fan-Makers as incorporated by letters patent from Queen Anne. So large and important it became, that a writer in the "Westminster Journal" in 1751, proposed a tax upon fans manufactured in the country, which would produce a revenue of £30,000 per annum.
"There is a fan case with a label on which announces that "Robt. Clarke, Fan-Maker to their Royal Highnesses the Duchess and Princess of Gloucester, at his Warehouse No. 26 Strand, near Charing Cross, is sole proprietor of the Fanology, or Conversation Fan; with these Fans Ladies may Converse at a distance on any subject without Speaking."

check out Ladies with Fan Japanese Ukiyo-e Prints

Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna, by Winterhalter 1868

Artist Unknown Donna Francese Aoto a Martini, ca 1760

Berthe Morisot

German Princess, 1827

A Woman holding a Fan , ca. 1640 by Frans Halls

Princess Elizabeth Esperovna Belosselsky Belosersky, Princess Troubestskoy, 1867

Jacquet Gustave-Jean

Maria Alexandrovna, Empress of Russia, 1853

Franciszek Zmurko 1885

Isabella Clara Eugenia, princess of Spain, by Rubens ca. 1590

Albert Joseph Moore. The loves of the winds and the seasons, 1890-1893

George Owen Wynne Apperley

Alexandra, Princess of Gals nee Princess of Denmark , ca. 1899-1900

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia

Frederick Leighton Lord Odalisque

Maria Luisa de Bourbon 1775

Francisco de Goya. Portrait of Antonia Zárate. c. 1805

Eduardo Leon Garrido

Gilbert Stuart. Matilda Stoughton de Jaudenes y Nebot 1794

Albert Joseph Moore A Reverie, 1892

Giraud Eugene Pierre Francois. Spanish Beauty With A Fan

Fontano Roberto A Young Girl Holding A Fan

George Owen Wynne Apperley

Archduchess Marie Christine of Austria, 1760

Archduchess Maria Josefa of Austria, 1760 1765

John William Waterhouse Sweet nothings, 1880

Alfred Stevens

Archduchess Aleksandra Petrovna of Russia, 1830 1835

Lawrence Alma-Tadema. The finding of Moses

Godward, The Peacock Fan, 1912

1881

John William Waterhouse, Flora, 1890

Mary Cassatt 1873

1880

1879

Mary Cassatt. In Theater 1879

Portrait Of Mariana Waldstein Francisco De Goya y Lucientes

Portrait of E. Vasilchikova, ca. 1867, by Kramskoi

Mary Cassatt, 1878

The Feather Fan, Matteo Corcos Vittorio, 1884

1883

Queen Elizabeth I of England, 1599, the 'Hardwick Portrait' (Nicholas Hilliard)

Unknown Artist. Young Queen Elizabeth of England 1601-02 at the age of three (right), at the age of five (left) and at the age of six (middle)

Frank Dicksee - Portrait of a Lady

Mary Cassatt, 1877

Red Fan

The Woman with a Fan by Goya y Lucientes

Two Elegant Ladies Holding Fans by Pedro Antonio 1828

Konstantin Makovsky. Portrait of Maria Volkonskaya

Viktor Bobrov. Portrait of singer Lavrovskaya, 1881

Goya y Lucientes

by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Woman with a fan ca. 1670 by Isaac Luttichuy

Portrait of Yussupova by Friedrich Winterhalter, 1858

by Frederick Leighton

Portrait Of Young Lady by Cabanel, ca. 1889

by Ivan Makarov, 1885

Princess Tatiana Alexandrovna Yussupova, nee Ribeaupierre, ca 1875

by Fabian Perez

Natalia Kazirelova

A 19th century Mother-of-Pearl and Brussels lace (Point de Gaz) fan

Antique Fan Carved Mother Of Pearl 1800’s

Eventail de la Reine Victoria

Painted Turkey Wings