A Cool Breeze - Part 2

The rich and varied themes that characterise the paintings on fans are well illustrated in this collection.

Featuring historical themes, very much in vogue in the 18^th century, there is a significant example of a fan with a painting divided in three pictures depicting the story of the eruption of Vesuvius in three distinct phases.

From the second half of the 19^th  century there is a rare example of a fan …

… with a biblical theme represented on the back of the sheet: The Choice of Isaiah. 

Genre scenes are the greatest fashion for the fans dating from the mid-19^th century. 

The museum’s collection has a significant number of fans dating from that period and they reflect the strong revivalist tendency that predominated due to the ascension of a liberal bourgeois class that tried to emulate the aristocracy.

In some of these fans there was an attempt to recreate the splendour of the previous century by depicting scenes painted on paper in the manner of the paintings by Watteau or Boucher, mounted on elaborately carved sticks made of ivory or bone.

Others include scenes in praise of love and the arts, dances and popular themes …

… represented with characters in 18^th century dress or contemporary clothing.

Some of these fans have a small mirror placed on the guard, allowing its owner to see without being seen, which was at the time instrumental for coquetry and seduction games. 

Fans with a commemorative theme and an implicit political slant are well represented in the museum’s collection. 

This fan, dated between 1777 and 1786, refers to the sovereignty of D. Maria I and D. Pedro III over the Portuguese Empire of the East.

Another fan has an interesting portrait with an inscription celebrating the rise of Prince D. João (the future King. D. João VI) to the regency of the realm.  

A fan signed by Rafael Bordallo Pinheiro belonged to a set of twelve thousand fans commissioned in 1886 to celebrate the wedding of King  D. Carlos with Queen  D. Amélia. 

Dating from the late-19th century the collection has also fans that exalt women and feminine symbolism …

… in soft paintings on tulle or organza.

It will be during the Belle Époque that new forms of fan leaves will be experimented with. These were preferably asymmetric and undulating … 

… or sought to create unusual effects that broke with the traditional bipartite division between the leaves and the sticks, creating decorations that extended beyond the mount of the fan invading the sticks.

An example of a courting fan is the imposing ostricht feather fan that belonged to the Duchess of Palmela exhibiting her crowned monogram on the central sticks, painted in gold on mother-of-pearl.

Some items illustrate the new functions attributed to fans in the late - 19^th and early - 20^th centuries.

Among other attributes, there are souvenirs of a particular occasion, declarations of love …

 … or used as adornment or jewellery. This necllace pending in the form of a brisé fan belonged to the Queen D. Amélia. It is made of golden silver and has miniatures of black and white photographs of the Royal Family, as well as the Portuguese arms, inlaid on the sticks. 

In the collection we can find several examples of advertising fans, promoting famous French shops such as Galeries Lafayette…

… perfume brands, wines and restaurants, among others.

The collection of the National Museum of Costume represents the official recognition of the fan as a work of art and as a collectable item, expressed in the diversity of materials, themes and dimensions, as well as an indispensable accessory to women’s dress.