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Signs of Identity in "Lady with a Fan" by Diego Velázquez: Costume and Likeness

Reconsidered
Author(s): Zahira Veliz
Source: The Art Bulletin, Vol. 86, No. 1 (Mar., 2004), pp. 75-95
Published by: College Art Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3177401
Accessed: 20-03-2018 22:09 UTC

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Signs of Identity in Lady with a Fan by Diego Velazquez:
Costume and Likeness Reconsidered
Zahira Veliz

Renowned as a great portraitist in the seventeenth century, Bonaparte. While at dinner in the latter's house, the duke of
the Spaniard Diego Velazquez stands with Rembrandt as an Luynes recognized on his host's walls two pictures that had
artist whose works can be viewed as wordless essays on the formerly belonged to him, and that "he had been obliged to
human condition. In addition to serving as records of like- sell to antique dealers, in the time of sequestrations, impris-
onments, and immigrations."3 Lucien Bonaparte promptly
ness, most portraits are repositories of clues to the values that
brought artist and sitter together. Velazquez's portraits are had the pictures taken down and returned to the duke.
arresting and memorable images that invite exploration of Unfortunately, no positive evidence remains that Lady with
the circumstances of their making, which leads to a more Fan was ever inventoried in any of the family collections. The
informed reading of the artist's work. The analysis of Lady duchess of Chevreuse passed her Paris house to the son born
with a Fan can be seen as a case study that expands our waysof her first marriage and retired to the convent at Gagny in
of understanding and thinking about early modern portrai- 1663.4 Any inventories made at the time of this propert
ture. transfer have been lost. By 1847 the painting was in th
The Lady with a Fan is an enigmatic work among portraits
Hertford Collection, later forming part of the Wallace Col-
by Velazquez (Fig. 1). As painter to Philip IV of Spain,
lection. A variant of the portrait, believed to have come t
England before 1753, when it appeared in the inventory
Velazquez principally recorded the appearance of members
taken
of the Spanish royal family and the high nobility, figures that at the death of Lord Burlington, now resides at Chats-
are easy to recognize. However, the sitter in Lady with aworth
Fan (Fig. 2).5 An entry in the 1689 inventory of the marqui
has not yet been convincingly identified, despite attemptsof to
Carpio's collection-"A painting of a woman with a blac
do so, perhaps because crucial signs in the portrait have lace
been veil on her head, with a square lace collar, and yellow
misinterpreted. The portrait itself is our most reliable evi-
dress with black stripes, an original by Diego Velazquez, one
dence for the encounter between the artist and sitter, as and
littleone third vara in height, and one half and a sixth in
documentary information has come to light. The details of framed, 1000 reales"-seems to identify the Chatsworth
width,
the costume that will be analyzed below suggest the sitter is
painting.6 This portrait was in the quarta pieza (fourth room)
dressed according to French fashion of the late 1630s. There- of Carpio's house El Jardin de San Joaquin, where it hun
fore, the possibility exists that she is a Frenchwoman. Thesome twenty other portraits of men and women, about
with
only reference indicating that Velazquez painted a French- ten religious paintings, and five mythological or secular sub
woman is found in a letter dated January 16, 1638, which jects.7 The intriguing relationship between the two versions
states that he was portraying the exiled duchess of Chevreuse, will be discussed below.

then living in Madrid under the protection of Philip IV.' When we stand before the painted image of a human being
Until now, identifying the woman in Lady with a Fan with and attempt to penetrate the character, assess the status, and
Marie de Rohan, duchess of Chevreuse (1600-1679), has identify qualities of the personality represented to our eyes, we
been passed over for two reasons. First, it was believed that no imitate the encounter between the sitter and the artist. Besides

resemblance could be discerned with other portraits of the the face, visual elements that accompany it act on us in our
duchess, and second, it was assumed that her costume re- interpretation of the sitter.8 Awareness of the conventions of
vealed a Spanish tapada (a precursor to the popular majas ofrepresentation with which both artist and sitter were fluent will
the eighteenth century) or a member of Velazquez's own enrich our reading of the image, and in the case of Velazquez,
family. Arguments can now be marshaled that clarify both illuminate the "episodio biognrfico" (biographical episode)
likeness and costume and, concomitantly, the significance of within the portrait.9 As in all human encounters, there must
pose and gesture, all of which lead to a new reading of the have been expectations on both sides. The sitter, presumably,
image. was desirous of being portrayed and perhaps curious to see how
Lady with a Fan, while accepted as a painting by Velazquez, she would be perceived by a celebrated professional. She might
is distinctly short on early documents. On the basis of its well have had a clear notion of how she wished to be seen, or the
place in Velazquez's stylistic development, the portrait has code of her social class may have dictated the mode of her
been dated to 1638-39, and it was first registered in the representation. The artist would study his subject, analyze her
collection of Lucien Bonaparte in the early nineteenth cen- form, and take her physical and metaphorical measure. Sympa-
tury.2 It has been assumed that he acquired it in Spain when thy-or its absence-between artist and sitter might influence
he was there in 1801. As no earlier record of the painting in the representation, although this subjective quality would be
any Spanish collection exists, however, it is possible that he difficult to assess historically. The complex ritual of portraiture
acquired it either in England or in Italy, where he spent most in the seventeenth century relied on a series of theatrical con-
of the period of the Napoleonic Wars, or even in France, as ventions that resulted in an image more layered and composed
suggested by the episode between the then duke of Luynes, a than the pieces of reality we capture at the present time in
direct descendant of the duchess of Chevreuse, and Lucien spontaneous or random snapshots.?1

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76 ART BULLETIN MARCH 2004 VOLUME LXXXVI NUMBER 1

1 Diego Velazquez, Lady with a Fan, ca. 1638. London, Wallace Collection (photo: By kind permission of the Trustees of the
Wallace Collection)

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SIGNS OF IDENTITY IN LADY WITH A FAN BY DIEGO VELAZQUEZ 77

To unearth the strata of experience that contributed to the


image made by Velazquez, we must identify the conventions
embedded in the portrait. When Velazquez was appointed court
painter in 1623, he sailed into the current that had been run-
ning deep through royal portraiture in Spain since the sixteenth
century. Under Charles I and Philip II, the public image of the
Spanish Habsburgs became codified through the interpreta-
tions of Titian and his Flemish follower Antonis Mor.11 Connec-
tions between the complex and decorous rituals of Habsburg
court etiquette and the unyielding austerity in formal represen-
tations of Spanish monarchs have long been noticed.l2 The
value of iconic images of kingship in making the monarch
present and real even in the most far-flung corers of the
Spanish empire has also been pointed out. If Charles I's king-
ship was made visible by Titian's brush and Philip II's by Antonis
Mor, it can certainly be claimed that Velazquez created the icon
of kingship in the time of Philip IV. No sooner had Velazquez
established his treatment of Philip IV in the portraits he made in
the 1620s than poems appeared praising the artist's power of
painting truth, while glorifying the monarch's unrivaled virtues.
Philip IV's minister, the count-duke of Olivares, whose initiative
had brought Velazquez to the court, capitalized on his protege's
success by declaring that until that time no one had been
successful in portraying the king.13 The following poem on a
portrait of Philip IV by Velazquez, quoted in an early biography
of the artist, illustrates the curious relationship between creative
power and the power of kingship that was so attractive a subject
in court circles at the time:

Oh brush, you render boldness and strength with a


fulness so well simulated that you make ferocity
fearful and gentleness appear pleasurable.
Say, are you making a portrait or are you bringing it to
life? For this royal image is so surpassingly excel-
lent that I would judge the canvas to be as alive as
insensible things are dead.
The portrait so splendidly reveals the royal authority it
is heir to that It even commands the eye.
And since you have made it a likeness of power you
have imitated what is most difficult, for to be
obeyed is easier.l4

Likeness is central to the purpose of portraiture. Yet during


the seventeenth century in Spain, the nature of likeness had
come to be seen as more complex than simply the successful 2 Attributed to Velazquez, A Young Lady with a Mantilla, ca.
imitation of appearance. On the one hand, Francisco Pa- 1638-48. Chatsworth, Devonshire Collection (photo: Photographic
Survey, Courtauld Institute of Art, reproduced by permission of
checo, Velazquez's painting master, wrote in his comprehen- the Duke of Devonshire and the Chatsworth Settlement Trustees)
sive treatise El arte de la pintura that a portraitist is required,
first, to capture likeness (parecido), but that likeness alone was
insufficient grounds for the work to be admired.l5 The por-
trait should be well drawn and made artfully, with good tation.18 But in other contexts, a truth (verdad) about the
colorido (coloring) and relief, so that "even where the sitter is sitter that inevitably constitutes more than a record of phys-
unknown, the artist will yet be esteemed for admirable paint- ical appearance is understood.19 Within the compositional
ing."'6 On the other hand, in the sonnet by Juan Velez de codes of his time, the artist orchestrated the expression and
Guevara quoted above, the line "Are you making a portrait orfeatures, body and gesture, costume and objects offered by
are you bringing it to life? [Retratas o animas?]" recalls the the sitter, to invest the portrait with some of the abstract
tension between appearance and reality that was central toqualities perceived in or ascribed to the portrayed. Both sitter
contemporary literary and artistic activity.17 Sometimes the and artist would also have in mind the person who commis-
word parecido implies simple imitation of the shape and colorsioned the portrait and for whose eyes it was intended.
of a sitter's features. Pacheco limits himself to this interpre-Velazquez seems to have mastered the fine balance between

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78 ART BULLETIN MARCH 2004 VOLUME LXXXVI NUMBER 1

the requirements of likeness and the imperative expression The loose ends in the recorded arguments about this
portrait
of his perception of character. Astute critics among his con- prompted a reexamination of the possibility of the
temporaries were quick to recognize this, foremost among sitter's identity as Marie de Rohan, duchess of Chevreuse, an
them the neo-Stoic poet Francisco de Quevedo, who in 1629 intimate friend of Anne of Austria, the Spanish-born queen
wrote the well-known silva (miscellany) in which Velazquez'sof France, and superintendent of her household as early as
intriguing play with appearance and truth is celebrated: 1621. The duchess's political conspiring brought her into
conflict with Louis XIII's prime minister, Cardinal Richelieu.
In the latter part of 1637, his antipathy, which she returned,
To the Brush
changed to active hostility, and she fled France, at the age of
By means of thee [the brush], the great Velazquez hasthirty-seven, taking temporary refuge in Spain. She counted,
been able
perhaps, on her great friendship with Anne of Austria to
(being as skillful as he is clever), stand her in good stead with her brother, Philip IV of Spain,
thus to give life to the beautiful and thus to give sensa-
from whom she hoped to receive a gracious welcome. The
tion to the soft,
situation was delicate in the extreme, since Spain was at war
with the distant blobs [of paint] with France. Contemporary accounts of her escape have all
which are truth itself and not resemblances.20
the elements of a romantic adventure by Alexandre Dumas,
but the details recorded in the days immediately following
her flight bear witness to the truth of events.30 On September
Finally, Peter Paul Rubens's opinion on Velazquez's portraiture
7, 1637, the duchess made for the Spanish frontier on horse-
as recorded by Pacheco is relevant to our study of Lady with a
Fan. Pacheco wrote that Rubens and Velazquez were friends, departing from Touraine dressed as a young gentleman
back,
and accompanied only by two grooms. Her disguise was
and that the older artist "greatly favored [Velazquez's] works for
successful,
their modestia."2' Modestia in this context seems to convey the
and she reached the Pyrenees sometime late in
September, crossing a short distance into Spain to a monastic
decorum of the image, the quiet propriety and authority appar-
hospice in the high mountains, from where she awaited
ent in the absence of flashy virtuosity.22 It seems that Velazquez's
permission
skill in portraiture was identified more with his ability to com-
from the Spanish authorities to advance.31 She
also
municate truth of character than with facile ability to record
obtained there some clothing "befitting her sex and
station."32
mere physical likeness. Indeed, exact representation might well
If the duchess of Chevreuse was subsequently
painted
have been too closely associated with Quevedo's semejantes (re-
in Madrid with "the French air and costume" by
semblance) in contrast to verdad (truth). Velazquez, then when she abandoned her male disguise, she
must consciously have chosen clothing to declare herself for
what she was: a high-born French lady. Her progress on the
The Duchess of Chevreuse Spanish side of the Pyrenees is recorded in contemporary
documents,
On a practical level, in the past the problem of likeness has particularly the letters addressed to a Jesuit in
Seville from
been a stumbling block to the identification of the woman in his correspondents among theJesuits in Madrid,
a rich
Lady with a Fan. There is no early record of the sitter's nameand varied source of news and events at the court.33
or title to help us with the usual questions: What After
kind receiving
of permission from the duke of Cardona, viceroy
of Cataluna,
woman do we see? Is she Spanish? Is she a lady of rank? For to proceed into Spain, she remained some weeks
whom was she painted? The answers must be sought by under the protection of the marquis de los Velez in Zaragoza.
looking closely at clues in the portrait. The sitter'sShe reached Guadalajara on November 25, where she met
steady,
considering gaze makes it clear that this is a portrait with
rather
the king and "discussed the business that had brought her
into Spain."34 On December 6, she made a magnificent entry
than a genre figure. She appears to be past her first youth,
into Madrid
between thirty-five and forty years of age, and is dressed in and was received with honor and affection by the
brown shot silk. She holds expensive but not ostentatious
king and queen and by the count and countess of Olivares.
accessories, and her bearing is dignified and grave. TakenThe duchess of Chevreuse spent December and January at
together, these details suggest that we are looking at athe
ladySpanish
of court, enjoying the masques, banquets, and bull-
high standing.23 Other suggestions concerning thefights sitter's
of the season preceding Lent. By February 13, however,
identity have been proposed, but they have been inconclu-
despite the king's insistence that she should remain, the duch-
ess, accompanied by two envoys of the English crown, was on
sively argued. The sitter has been seen variously as a female
relation of the painter;24 a courtesan;25 and a tapada-liter-
her way across the Castilian plain toward La Coruna. There an
ally, one concealed-a woman who, hidden under a conceal-English galleon, sent for the purpose, waited to carry her to
England. Remaining in the very heart of a country at war with
ing veil, with only one eye uncovered, ventured anonymously
into public to flirt.26 A document ofJanuary 16, 1638,her own may have seemed too prejudicial to her hopes of
records
that "Diego Velazquez is painting her [the duchess returning
of Che- to France. A safe haven in England would have the
double advantage
vreuse's] portrait with a French air and dress."27 Although a of making her situation less dangerous and
connection between this document and the Wallace Collec- providing easier communication with France. Before leaving
tion portrait has been dismissed in the past, the stir made Spain,
byhowever, she gave a portrait of the English queen, Hen-
Chevreuse's visit to Madrid in 1637-38 has been associated with rietta Maria, to Queen Isabel of Spain, her sister. This may well
the rising fashion there for French dress, particularly low neck- have been a miniature, as it is difficult to imagine how the
lines.28 No other portrait has been persuasively connected with duchess could have made her adventurous escape from France
the painting described in the contemporary record.29 undetected carrying a life-size portrait. She also requested a

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SIGNS OF IDENTITY IN LADY WITH A FAN BY DIEGO VELAZQUEZ 79

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enrietta
portrait of Queen Isabel to carry to Queen He Maria in temporary record of her eye color has been located.38 The
ly reached
England. Sailing was delayed, but her ship final Ports- Spaniards were amazed at her freedom and fearlessness
with much
mouth late in April 1638, and she was received v notice noting her "elegance, risque neckline and free air [bizarra,
in the
by the English court. She occupied a house i garden of despechugada y desenfadada]," thus calling attention to the
Whitehall, where she was to spend two more y her exile, contrast of her neckline with the conservative style of the
ears of
which continued until both Richelieu and his king were dead. Spanish ladies.39 Another report described her as having
come,
Charles I made every effort to make her welincluding "very attractive presence, a pretty person and free air, with a
among
hanging some of his paintings in her house, them a fair complexion and golden hair [de muy linda presencia y
)laced
Judith and Holofernes by Guido Reni that was Fabove her alindada persona, muy airosay despejada, blancay elpelo rubio]."40
fireplace.35 This may well have struck herapt subject for a She was noted universally for outstanding charm and grace,
as an
woman who spent a great deal of her life ming
scheagainst the and in Spain, for her modest behavior and beautiful man-
usurpation of her people's (that is, the French rightful ners.41 Certainly, the lady in Velazquez's portrait possesses
nobles')
arin,
power by Richelieu and later by Cardinal prime min- some of these attributes: her complexion is fair, her hair is of
Maz
ister during Anne of Austria's regency. a shade that in Spain would be called chestnut (castano), her
Documents, both Spanish and French, vide
proxenthusiastic decolletage is placed at the center point of the composition,
duchess
but fragmentary physical descriptions of the of Che- and her poise suggests that she knows how to behave.
alled
vreuse.36 In Spanish documents, her hair golden red Reliable visual portraits of Marie de Rohan are as elusive as
is c2
(rubia), while the French labeled her hair
wnytan (fauve).37 In the verbal accounts. There exist numerous engravings and a
ras remarked,
Spain, the whiteness of her complexion w a few paintings claiming to represent her, but few can be
characteristic that did not stand out to the ] French; no con- reliably dated, and differences in media and artistic skil

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80 ART BULLETIN MARCH 2004 VOLUME LXXXVI NUMBER 1

4 Attributed to Claude Deruet, Portrait


of Marie de Rohan de Montbazon, Duchess
of Chevreuse, as Diana, 1627. Chateaux
de Versailles et de Trianon (photo:
RMN)

make meaningful comparisons difficult. The engraving pub- Costume: "El Traje y Aire de Frances"
lished by Pierre Daret (1604-1678) in 1653 (Fig. 3) marking Does Lady with a Fan show the "French air and dress" de-
her reinstatement in the French court after many years alter- scribed in the contemporary document? We must examine
nating between dangerous intrigue and exile seems to have with rigor what Velazquez has painted, because costume
some claim to authenticity. However, the distance in years played a central role in the dramatization of gesture and body
from the exact date in 1638 when Velazquez was portraying and it was sometimes used to support an idea that can be
her is too great to make this comparison very useful. The understood only by external reference.42 In comparison with
image with the strongest claim to represent her authentically contemporary Spanish and French images, the details of the
at a date close to the Spanish episode is the 1627 Portrait of the dress and careful analysis of the sitter's gesture or body
Duchess of Chevreuse as Diana attributed to Claude Deruet language show that the figure's "self-presentation" is certainly
(1588-1660) (Fig. 4). Here the duchess, shown ten years French rather than Spanish. It is possible to identify details
younger than when she arrived in Spain, bears a notable that point to specifically French taste in the costume of the
resemblance to the subject of Velazquez's portrait in the Lady with a Fan. Since the beginning of the seventeenth
facial features, particularly the eyes, the mouth, the high century in both Spain and France, the fashionable world had
forehead, and the nose. The similarity of features in the been harangued by royal edicts prohibiting the display of
portraits is encouraging, but in the absence of decisive evi- expensive lace collars, gold or silver cloth, and other forms of
dence about the appearance of the duchess of Chevreuse in luxurious ornament.43 The edicts met with erratic compli-
1637-38, we must turn to other elements in the portrait to ance, a point supported by the need for their reissue year
support the assertion that she is the sitter. after year in the 1630s. However, during this decade French

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SIGNS OF IDENTITY IN LADY WITH A FAN BY DIEGO VELAZQUEZ 81

. Afoc zef: w oman


- JTrc

5 Wenceslaus Hollar, Nobilis mulier gallica, 1643. London,


The British Museum (photo: ? The British Museum)

clothing changed in the direction of simpler lines and a more


sober, understated style, described in contemporary treatises
on fashion as "notre gentillesse" (our easy elegance).44
French style was seen as striking a perfect balance between
the stiff magnificence of Spanish dress and the relative plain-
6 Peter
ness of English fashion, considered somewhat dull and Paul Rubens, Queen Mane de Medicis as "Minerva
lugu-
Victrix," 1622-25. Paris, Musee du Louvre (photo: RMN)
brious.45 To contemporaries of Louis XIII, "a fashionable
appearance was a specific feature of national character."46
Extreme decollote with slender corsets is typically French,
uncovered
and this style can be observed in many of the engravings ofbreast as "Minerva Victrix" by Rubens (1622-25,
French ladies of the 1630s by Wenceslaus Hollar andFig.
Jacques
6). A distinction must be made here between a portrait,
with the in
Callot, whose prints reveal an almost documentary interest rhetorical code it carries, and a genre painting, such
the form and detail of European costume in the as second
Velazquez's The Needlewoman (Fig. 7). A woman with a low
quarter of the seventeenth century (Fig. 5).47 In comparison,
neckline is represented by the artist, but she does not present
not a single portrait from the 1630s and 1640s herself
showsas ain a portrait, nor does she carry on a silent dialogue
Spanish lady with her breasts revealed. Even the with
bodies
the of
viewer. Even in Spanish genre painting, however,
sibyls and goddesses, in the rare depictions of such women
figures, rarely appear uncovered. The kneeling servant at the
were chastely covered, as in Flora by Juan van der lower
Hamen left y
of the Kitchen Scene (Allegory of Fallen Virtue) (1650-
Le6n (1627) in the Museo del Prado, Madrid, or in A55) attributed
Sibyl by to Antonio Pereda, in the Douglas-Pennant
Velazquez in the Meadows Museum, Dallas.48 In the courts
collection ofat Penrhyn Castle (the National Trust), with bare
shoulder, upper chest, and arm, is (with the notable excep-
northern Europe, by contrast, it was acceptable to represent
artfully draped nudes, as in The Duke and Duchess oftion
Bucking-
of the unique Rokeby Venus by Velazquez) one of the most
ham as Venus and Adonis by Anthony Van Dyck (1620, uncovered
in a female figures in seventeenth-century Spanish
private English collection) and Marie de M6dicispainting.
with an Women of easy virtue, an extreme case which might

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82 ART BULLETIN MARCH 2004 VOLUME LXXXVI NUMBER 1

especially, the fan entered into the stereotype of Spanish


dress, during the seventeenth century the use of the fan as a
fashion accessory was more stylish in France than in Spain.
The essential accessory for a Spanish lady of fashion was more
likely to be a large embroidered or lace-edged square of fine
batiste cotton (Fig. 9).50 The fan remained the ultimate
symbol of elegance for French ladies.51
Fine kid leather gloves often appear among the accoutre-
ments of fashionable ladies. Gloves, of course, cannot be
claimed as exclusively French, as they formed a component of
elegant dress throughout Europe. It is interesting, however,
that some fifteen years before Lady with a Fan was painted, the
future Charles I of England, on his unsuccessful mission to
secure a Spanish bride, received as a gift from his hoped-for
sister-in-law, Isabel of Bourbon, queen of Spain, one hundred
pairs of kid gloves.52 Were such gloves a usual royal gift?
Could the prominence of the gloves on the sitter's hands in
Lady with a Fan be a reference to the royal favor bestowed on
the duchess of Chevreuse?

The simple ornaments in the lower right of Velazquez's


portrait have until now defied clear identification and inter-
pretation. After Lady with a Fan was cleaned in the 1970s, the
shape and texture of these objects could be seen more dis-
tinctly, revealing them as a gold rosary looped around the
sitter's wrist, a pale blue ribbon tied into a bow, a speck of
vermilion red (another ribbon?), and, nearest to the lower
edge of the painting, a reflective silver-colored object of
7 Velazquez, The Needlewoman, 1640s. Washington, D.C.,
indistinct shape (Fig. 10). In France, well-dressed ladies of
National Gallery of Art, Andrew W. Mellon Collection (photo:
? 2002 Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, the aristocracy and prosperous bourgeoisie were often por-
Washington) trayed with rosaries, particularly in the prints of Jacques
Callot published in the 1620s (Fig. 11). In Spain, rosaries
could be seen in common use, if we are to believe the words
of Mme d'Aulnoy, a French traveler whose piquant and some-
offer license to depict uncovered flesh, are usually quite
times fantastic observations on Spanish manners were re-
modestly dressed, such as the fleeing prostitute in The Temp-
corded in a diary of 1679. She criticized the carelessness with
tation of Saint Thomas Aquinas by Velazquez in the Cathedral
which the Spanish ladies carried their rosaries, even allowing
Museum, Orihuela, Spain. No revelation of the female body
them to trail on the ground as they went to church.53 Never-
equivalent to the occasional depictions of uncovered arms
theless, few Spanish ladies are depicted with the rosary as an
and/or breasts in genre or history subjects can be seen in any
article of adornment.54
extant portraits of women. It is not proposed that low neck-
lines were never worn or seen in Spain but, rather, that the The mysterious silver object near the lower edge of the
codes of pictorial decorum would not easily permit a known painting has been interpreted in the past as a crucifix or as a
lady to be painted in this way. The decolletage of the dress in religious medal.55 The broad cruciform shape suggested by
Velazquez's portrait is therefore highly exceptional in Span- Velazquez's brush, however, is very like the French seven-
ish painting and thus can be interpreted as a sign of French teenth-century watchcase in the form of a crucifix recorded
fashion, probably worn by a Frenchwoman. by Maurice Leloir (Fig. 12).56 From the 1620s until the 1640s
The sitter's neckline is not the only costume detail point- in paintings and prints of French ladies' costumes, three
ing to French style. The discreet brown tone of the silk distinctly French items of adornment, the galand, or love
reflects the French taste for somber tones in dress fabrics.49 knot, a small mirror, and a little case or watch frequently
The lace cuffs and gloves and, above all, the fan were essential appear. These were attached by ribbons or chains to the
elements of fashionable French dress at this time. Although corset waist, to hang down to the level of the hips (Figs. 13,
many portraits of women throughout Europe showed their 15-17).57 Contemporary Spanish costume was without the
sitters holding a fan-usually closed-nowhere do they ap- adornments so prominent among the French (Figs. 17, 18).
pear in such proliferation as among the fashionably dressed From 1635, a specially tied ribbon called the noeud d'amour
ladies of the French court. The prints of Abraham Bosse became extremely popular, and it may be one of these that
(1602-1676) (Figs. 8, 14, 15, 16) provide evidence for this appears in Lady with a Fan.58 These elegant trinkets were
ubiquitous accessory. Frenchwomen's fans are frequently de- favored by aristocrats, while the bourgeoisie would probably
picted "in action," in contrast to the occasional Spanish ex- carry items of greater practicality, such as scissors or small
amples, when the fans are usually closed and held still. Al- perfume bottles.59 After the decree of 1633 prohibiting lux-
though as the century wore on, and in the eighteenth century urious display in clothes, these ornaments replaced heavy

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SIGNS OF IDENTITY IN LADY W17'H A FAN BY DIEGO VELAZQUEZ 83

8 Abraham Bosse, Le bal, ca. 1635. London, The British Museum (photo: (C) The British Museum)

precious jewelry as the preferred adornment. The impor- For example, the black veil and the farthingale, or guardain-
tance of these little accessories can be judged by the ex- fante (the rigid framework of iron hoops to support large, stiff
tremely fashionable stalls of the Galerie du Palais in Paris, skirts), worn by the sitter were typical of but not exclusive to
recorded by Bosse (Fig. 14), displaying gloves and fans, laces Spanish fashion. By the 1630s the farthingale, which was
and ribbons, and ready-made noeuds d'amour. Contemporary certainly still seen throughout the 1620s, had slipped from
literature also paid homage to this legendary site, one of the popularity in France in reaction to the simpler, more natural
most popular places for those of the fashionable world of the line then in favor. The black transparent veil that drops in
court to gather, flirt, and adorn themselves: folds at the sitter's elbow is a very Spanish item, correspond-
ing perfectly to the description given of the manto as a black
Icy faisant semblant d'acheter devant tous veil falling to the hips that could be of different weights. But
Des gants, des evantails, du ruban, des dentelles; such articles were by no means unknown in France. "For a
Les adroits courtisans se donnent rendez-vous, long time ladies have worn a long mourning veil to attend the
Et pour se faire aimer galantisent les belles.60 funeral service (this costume was still in use in Spain some
years ago); it was quickly noticed that this black crepe
(Here they come to display themselves before all /
Making their purchases of gloves, fans, ribbons, and brought out the pallor of complexion and it was transformed

lace; / The skilled courtiers come here to meet, / And into a headdress tied below the chin, which took the name

to make love gallantly to the belles.) 'tenebre."'62 An inventory of the period even described "a
mantle of black Spanish cloth."63 In Lady with a Fan it seems

The arrangement of the hair in Lady with a Fan is also in the to be a manto de humo, a veil made from a very light, trans-

French style, which featured loosely curled tendrils hanging parent material known also as soplillo, illustrated in an early-

softly at the sides of the face.6l In contrast, the hairstyles of seventeenth-century print by Sebastian Vrancx and Peeter de

Spanish ladies of the 1630s and 1640s remained stiff and Jode (Fig. 15).64 In addition, black veils of a shorter length

voluminous, at least in formal portraits. were recorded by Hollar (Fig. 21) and Bosse (Fig. 14), and
However, not everything about the costume of Lady with a even an English lady was depicted with a short black veil and
Fan is as emphatically French as the aspects so far discussed. a fan, in 1683.65 While testing the hypothesis that Velazquez's

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84 ART BULLETIN MARCH 2004 VOLUME LXXXVI NUMBER 1

10 Velazquez, Lady with a Fan, detail of lower right

In Spain, the farthingale and excessive decolletage wer


proscribed for all but licensed prostitutes in 1639.67 Th
seems a probable terminus ante quem for the Wallace Co
lection painting, as it is unlikely that the principal cour
painter would fly in the face of the decree, even if Spanish
ladies frequently ignored the edicts. The farthingale wa
criticized by moralists because it permitted the disguise
illicit pregnancies (guardainfante literally means "baby protec
9 Velazquez, Queen Mariana, 1652-53. Madrid, Museo
Nacional del Prado tor").68 Low necklines were banished at that time perhaps in
response to a temporary and scandalizing fashion fever pro-
voked by the example of the duchess of Chevreuse during he
brief stay in the capital.69 In any event, it was only by the la
sitter may be the duchess of Chevreuse, we must reflect on
1640s-some years later than the Wallace Collection paint
the fact that the only women's clothing she was known to French style made its mark on both men's an
ing-that
have as she came into Spain was that given to her at the
women's fashionable clothing in Spain. The masculine vestid
border. It is probable that once within Spain she was frances
able to made its first visually documented appearance in th
acquire additional clothing, and she may have been provided
Portrait of Philip IV at Fraga, of 1644 (Frick Collection, New
with apparel by her hosts in Zaragoza, not to mention in The influence on feminine fashion was more subtle
York).70
Madrid, where she stayed in the house of the duke ofshowing
Alba, principally in the disappearance of the standing ruff
beautifully furnished for her.66 Even if clothes were made for
a detail of formal dress that was certainly maintained throug
her, it is not surprising that something Spanish should ap- (Fig. 16), and fabrics less heavily embroidered and
the 1630s
pear in her costume. It should also be said that taste and More open necklines were edged with a large, flat
bejeweled.
fashion were not strictly contained by national boundaries,
lace collar that became increasingly familiar in portraits of
the 1650s of Queen Mariana and the Infanta Maria Teresa.
and, especially among the sophisticated and urbane, courtly
fashion was to a limited degree international. However, re-
The guardainfante did not disappear. On the contrary, under
gional dress characteristics must have been still strongly
the influence of Queen Mariana their size, at least in the
marked if we take as a documentary sample the dozens formal of
court portraits, increased to amazing proportions.
prints illustrating European ladies' costume. The prints by
Mme d'Aulnoy reported in her 1679 diary that she was asked
Callot and Hollar in this article are examples in point.
to wear the guardainfante for a visit to the Royal Palace.71

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SIGNS OF IDENTITY IN LADY WITH A IAN BY DIEGO VELAZQUEZ 85

I
/ .

12 Ladies' watchcase in the form of a crucifix, French, 17th


century (from Leloir, Dictionnaire du costume, 279; by
permission of The British Library, HLR391.003)

show off that which is hidden inside: and the Spaniard, on


the contrary, attempts to hide that which is in view.72

Too intimate a portrayal of a virtuous Spanish woman was


considered indecorous, and perhaps being portrayed itself
was perceived as contributing to vanity. Spanish society was
conservative and by the 1630s suffered from a deep crisis of
national confidence, and the climate created was no longer
favorable to so influential a role for Spanish fashion as had
been the case in the latter sixteenth and early seventeenth
centuries.73 Styles were slow to change, and the few contem-
./nrL?I
porary images of ladies' costume indicate that appropriate
dress for a portrait still covered and obscured the body. Stiff,
11 Jacques Callot, Lady with a Large Collar, Her Hair Pulled Back
and a Rosary at Her Wrist, from La noblesse lorraine, 1624. heavy fabrics and unnatural lines predominated, as can be
London, The British Museum (photo: ? The British Museum) seen in Hollar's print Mulier nobilis hispanica and in Dona
Antonia de Ipeiarrieta y Gald6s with One of Her Sons by Velazquez
(Figs. 16, 17).
In the case of the Lady with a Fan, we have a felicitous
A Young Lady with a Mantilla at Chatsworth opportunity to compare it with the version in Chatsworth,
The comparison of French and Spanish feminine fashion in entitled A Young Lady with a Mantilla.74 The resemblance
the 1630s and 1640s is disadvantaged by the inequality of between the sitter in the Chatsworth picture and the woman
available written and visual sources from the two cultures. portrayed in Lady with a Fan has always been recognized, but
Whereas extensive information exists for France, spawnedthe no precise relationship of the two portraits has remained
doubt by a confident, nationalistic fashion-consciousness elusive.75
at After examining the accumulation of costume de-
the time, evidence is extremely scarce for Spain. One of the tails and the body language in the Chatsworth painting, it
becomes clear that here the same sitter is represented in
reasons may be quite simply the few portraits of ladies
painted, reflecting a desire to shield honest women from elegant Spanish costume. Although the facial features of the
woman
display. Such a sentiment is attributed to his fellow Spaniards in the Chatsworth portrait make her appear younger
than
by Carlos Garcia, a Spanish priest, in his book Antipatia entre the sitter of the Lady with a Fan, the obscuring, discol-
ored varnish on the Chatsworth painting renders this effect
los franceses y espaioles (1627). He wrote,
difficult to judge. The Chatsworth painting's diminished vis-
A Frenchman being favored by his lady thinks of nothing ibility also obscures a number of stylistic questions. For ex-
else but of how to show his friends, and all the world, his
ample, does the variation in features result from workshop
success and privilege, something that the Spaniard greatlyparticipation, from idealization of the sitter when the original
abhors, for when it happens that [a Spaniard is so was fa- no longer at hand, or from the subject's own desire to be
portrayed with a younger appearance? One interpretation of
vored], he puts all his care and caution in hiding this joy
from the world, from his friends, and even from himself (ifapparent difference in age of the faces in these paintings
the
he can). And thus, in this can be seen the contrary ten- is that they represent a mother and daughter.76 The torsos
dencies between them because the Frenchman strives to are in the same position but the hands are reversed, as if the

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86 ART BULLETIN MARCH 2004 VOLUME LXXXVI NUMBER 1

13 Bosse, La dame reformee, ca. 1634.


London, The British Museum (photo:
? The British Museum)

same figure and pose were viewed from the oppositeaside.


visual barricade that isolates the body and the head. This
impression may have been exaggerated by an alteration in
The square lace collar in the Chatsworth picture was known
by the general name valona and appears in paintings fromthe format of the painting, which was cut down at the sides.77
the 1640s such as The Entry of Philip IV into Pamplona (Well-
In juxtaposition with the density of costume, the expression
ington Museum, Apsley House, London) and others byJuan of the sitter's features looks unguarded. The body language
Martinez del Mazo, Velazquez's son-in-law. The striped oftrim
the sitter seems to echo the social "enclosure" of women by
on the costume in the Chatsworth painting is similar to means
some of rigidly controlled institutions such as marriage, holy
of Queen Mariana's dresses painted by Velazquez in the orders, and licensed prostitution in early modern Spain.78 By
1650s. The short, black, lace-edged mantilla is somewhatcontrast, the Wallace Collection portrait offers access for the
unusual in that seventeenth-century Spanish women viewer's
were eye to travel upward from the gap at the lower left
corner, between the hands, over the breast, and to the face:
rarely portrayed with a veil, and those few representations
that exist usually show a plain material. A fine white batiste
the body is potentially accessible. It is not, however, necessar-
paiuelo (handkerchief), a fashionable accessory for Spanish
ily available, because the reserved distraction of the sitter's
expression,
women throughout the century, is held in the sitter's hand at the austerity of the costume's color, and the
the lower left corner. self-possessed posture preclude any interpretation of com-
The lady in the Chatsworth painting keeps the viewer atpromised
a virtue. The hands in the Chatsworth painting are
distance, her arm crossing the area of view from side to side
passive and demure; the action of touching the veil recedes to
the shadowy background; and the figure is static. In the
like a closed gate. Her neckline is high, and the busy deco-
Wallace
ration of her costume calls attention to itself, acting almost as Collection painting the hands, standing out in their

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SIGNS OF IDENTITY IN LADY WITH A FAN BY DIEGO VELAZQUEZ 87

14 Bosse, La Galerie du Palais, ca.


1640. London, The British
Museum (photo: ? The British
Museum)

light gloves against the dark fabric, share prominence with courtiers in orbit around the motionless immutability of the
the face, their gestures meaningful as they display the at- monarch at its center held sway.80 Identification of abstract
tributes of this portrait's iconography. A sense of potential qualities with certain gestural traits became more widespread,
action is conveyed by the delicately poised fingers and the and an understanding of this language can be critical to
scintillating highlights on the fan. The costume of the Chats- penetrating the sometimes obscure codes that were assumed
worth painting appears to be slightly later than 1635-40, the to be common knowledge to artist, sitter, and viewer of
date traditionally assigned to the Wallace Collection painting. seventeenth-century portraits.8l
One possible explanation is that Velazquez painted the Royal marriages notwithstanding, Spanish and French per-
Chatsworth painting at a later date from a study of the head, ceptions of each other in the seventeenth century were prob-
complementing the face with clothing by then contemporary. ably colored by the almost constant state of military and
political rivalry and war between the two nations. A sense of
French Gesture and Spanish Convention national identity had emerged in both countries during the
The subtle yet nonetheless telling contrast in gesture and course of the preceding century. By the 1650s, "Spanish
body language in these portraits can be explored through an gravity" was frequently contrasted with the "gesticulating"
examination of cultural conventions about the eloquence of French and Italians.82 Antipatia de los franceses y espanoles,
gesture and the difference between French and Spanish stan- which appeared in 1617 and went through at least twenty-six
dards of feminine conduct. Since the Renaissance, the lan- editions in the sixteenth century, described the differences in
guage of gesture, with its classical antecedents in the rhetor- Spanish and French gesture. For example,
ical codes of Cicero, attracted the interest of cultured people
throughout Europe, and its codification grew from the widely Ordinarily the French, when they move in the streets, walk
held social view that gesture spoke of degrees of civilization.79 so quickly and actively that they look as though the law
It was understood that consciously or unconsciously men and were after them; and the Spaniards walk so phlegmatically,
women of all classes revealed their character and their rank with calm and repose, that whoever should see them in the
through gesture and comportment, both integral aspects of street will think that they have just recovered from a
self-presentation, together with clothing and spoken lan- serious illness.... 83
guage. Those of high social standing and sufficient leisure
could cultivate their person "as a work of art" in which
Differences in the coded gestures toward women did not
escape
expression and gesture became indexes of gentility and ci- Father Garcia's attention:
vilit. The eloquence and power of "body language" would
have been readily apprehended in the atmosphere of If the
we ask a Spaniard his opinion of the manner and custom
Spanish court, where the Habsburg tradition of rigid that
eti- Frenchmen use to salute the ladies by kissing them on
quette that choreographed the movement of the court the and face, embracing them, and touching them in a free

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88 ART BULLETIN MARCH 2004 VOLUME LXXXVI NUMBER 1

-KItS t -p C 2 /'1 f/? - 7) " // /

.Sebfft^9.r^r w in. 'rc ' . ) ^ xPe. d Ieocje i. e_ t ;t,

15 Sebastian Vrancx and Peeter de Jode, Hispani et Hispaniae


in vestitu cultus, from Variorum gentium ornatus, ca. 1600,
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kunstbibliothek

and relaxed manner, as is practiced in France, he [the 16 Hollar, Mulier nobilis hispanica, 1640s. London, The British
Spaniard] will really lose all patience, and it will be entirely Museum (photo: ? The British Museum)
impossible to persuade him that such ceremonies have
anything about them that is civil or courteous. And in the
Frenchman's judgment, the courtesy, urbanity, and mod-
esty of the Spaniard will seem the most barbarous and The French view of a woman's place (at least those accom-
uncouth thing in the world.84 plished females of the court) in the order of things was also
more open than the role ordained for her by Spanish mor-
No doubt Garcia exaggerated somewhat in the interests of
alists:
good copy, yet the contrast of activity and immobility, expan-
sion and containment is echoed throughout early modern But it is [women's] own virtue which we respect, the which
writing on comparative manners.85 In the seventeenth cen- hath the greater charm to make it selfe to be admired, for
tury, the forms, if not always the essence, of "mannerliness" that it is accompanied with graces, and as it were enlight-
and civility were associated with the French.86 In France, too, ened with the beames of beauty.... To this we must add,
some of the most influential manuals on civility were pro- that without [women] the goodliest Courts in the world
duced, such as Nicolas Faret's L'honnete homme, published in would bee mournfull and languishing, without splendor,
1630, and soon translated into English.87 A similar work, La without joy, and without any kinde of galantnesse; and we
honneste femme by Jacques du Bosque, was translated, as The must confesse, that their presence alone quickens mens
Accomplish 'd Woman, by Walter Montagu, a favored courtier of mindes, and incites the generosity of all those which have
Charles I and an intimate friend of Mme de Chevreuse.88 In
any feelings and apprehensions.90
both works, phrases explaining the importance of gesture-
especially of the hands-abounded, such as "but we may say Views about honor and comportment were far more re-
in some sort of the hands that they speake themselvs. For by laxed in France than contemporary opinion in Spain. In
them in a manner as often as with the tongue, we demand, regard to reputation, du Bosque wrote, "The innocent should
wee promise, we call unto us, we send away, we question, and be no more afflicted when they are called guilty, than if they
we deny."89 were said to be sicke when they are well."91 Elsewhere, he

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SIGNS OF IDENTITY IN LADY WITH A FAN BY DIEGO VELAZQUEZ 89

praises natural gracefulness in contrast to formal restraint:


"an ingenuous freedom is better than constraint."92
In contrast to the affectionate and appreciative tone of
these French commentaries, Spanish texts on the manners
and behavior of women were extremely conservative, pre-
scribing a withdrawn life for the virtuous woman, either in
her father's or husband's house or within the convent.93 The
moralizing works on women's behavior common in the sev-
enteenth century were simply new editions of the standard
and influential treatises of a hundred years before. Particu-
larly popular were Friar Vicente Mexia's Saludable instrucci6n
del estado del matrimonio (1566), Juan Luis Vives's Instrucci6n de
la mujer cristiana (1528), and Friar Luis de Le6n's La perfecta
casada (1583). In all these manuals, the woman is pictured as
absolutely subservient to the will of her father, her brother,
or, ultimately, her husband. Mexia goes so far as to spell out
that once married, a woman "makes herself subject to her
husband ... and she is no longer owner of her own body."94
Passivity and an absence of initiative and freedom95 charac-
terized the ideal Spanish woman in the seventeenth century,
which was socially more repressive than the sixteenth.96 Juan
Luis Vives proposed that "the principal care of women
[should be] the conservation of estate and honor."97 The
qualities praised by Faret, particularly "graces" and "beames
of beauty," would have been interpreted by the Spanish mor-
alists as placing men in moral danger, since these charms
would have tempted the beholders into sinful thoughts or
actions.98 The disjunction between Spanish honestidad and
French gentillesse as paramount womanly qualities is manifest
when comparing the portrait of the countess of Monterrey
presenting a community of Dominican nuns to Saint Do-
minic (Fig. 18) and the pleasant frivolity of Bosse's prints of
courtly pastimes (Figs. 8, 13, 14). Extremes of earnest piety
on the one hand and careless sophistication on the other
contributed to the caricatures of national character. Far from

the mentality of northern European courts that accepted a


recognizable noblewoman portrayed as a goddess, in Spain
artists were encouraged to transform Venus into a Mag- 17 Velazquez, Doia Antonia de Ipeiarrieta y Gald6s with One of
Her Sons, 1631-32. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado
dalen,99 and "proper viewing" for seioras consisted of "com-
pletely shunning the fables, seeking out always noble, deco-
rous, honest and exemplary subjects."100 In this conservative
climate where women were considered the receptacles of
pose and gestures more eloquent than mimetic was seen
family honor, it was highly unlikely that a Spanish lady,
already in portraits such as that of Ambrosio Spinoza in the
however lively she might be in her own private world, would
Surrender of Breda. Marie de Rohan was no doubt conversant
be recorded in a portrait with the decolletage and relaxed
with portraits histoiries, works combining portraiture and alle-
body language of the Lady with a Fan.
gory, from the French court, and probably with their coun-
An acknowledged divide lay between what was acceptable terparts from the Low Countries. She herself was represented
and honorable for a woman of equivalent aristocratic rank asin
Diana in the portrait at Versailles (Fig. 4), and possibly
France and in Spain. With this in view, we can look again even
at as a bare-breasted shepherdess, if the title recorded in
the Chatsworth and Wallace Collection portraits and an ask:
engraving of a painting by Paulus Moreelse is accurate
Why are there two portraits? For whom were they painted? In 19).101 However, a portrait histoirie elaborated by an artist
(Fig.
answer to the first question, many hypotheses could be de-
of Velazquez's subtle yet unerring eye converts the frivolous
veloped, but the one that invites consideration here is conceits
that so popular in courtly circles of northern Europe into
perhaps we are looking at a depiction of the contrast between
a serious matter. Unlike the usual portraits histoiries, Lady with
the French and the Spanish-an absolutely contemporary a Fan and A Young Lady with a Mantilla represent not classical
personifications but those with contemporary relevance.
subject in which the protagonists personify stereotyped "na-
Such
tional virtues." Velazquez's ability to endow his figures with a a use would appeal to the sophisticated Baroque taste

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90 ART BULLETIN MARCH 2004 VOLUME LXXXVI NUMBER 1

18 The Countess of Monterrey Presenting


a Community of Dominican Nuns before
an Image of Saint Dominic, ca. 1630-40.
Salamanca, Duke of Infantado
Collection (from Catdlogo de la
exposicion de retratos de mujeres espaiolas
por artistas espaioles anteriores a 1850
[Madrid: Sociedad Espafiola de
Amigos del Arte, 1918], pl. 12; by
permission of the Research Library,
The Getty Research Institute, Los
Angeles)

for the theatricality of life, characterized by what Daniel


Wallace Collection portrait before 1812, there is no evidence
Roche has described as "a love of inversions and transmuta-
to refute the possibility that the duchess of Chevreuse might
tions.... Fashion and fantasy became the very expression haveoftaken it with her when she left Spain.108 This hypothesis
the contrasted being of the age.... 102 National identity/is suggested by the striking similarities in subject, format,
composition,
allegiance would have been particularly prickly with regard to and even some details between the Lady with a
Fan and Summer from The Four Seasons, a series of prints
the presence of the duchess of Chevreuse in Philip IV's court:
Was she (a friend of the) French or was she (a friend of published
the) by Wenceslaus Hollar between 1641 and 1644
Spanish? There was a political side to her appearance(Figs.
in 20, 21). Hollar and the duchess of Chevreuse were both
Madrid, and perhaps promises had been made of help in in
London at the court of Charles I in the years 1638 through
1640, and it is intriguing to speculate on whether Hollar
aligning England with the Spanish interests in the Low Coun-
tries. In any event, after the duchess's arrival in Englandmight
in have seen the portrait now in the Wallace Collection at
that time. The distant view of Lambeth and Westminster seen
the spring of 1638, popular Spanish opinion of her, initially
so favorable, swung completely the other way, and she was through the window in Summer (Fig. 21) confirms a London
accused of treachery or, at least, duplicity, of which shesetting
may for the image.
well have been guilty.103 Nevertheless, while in London she
continued to correspond with the count-duke of OlivaresTruth,
and not Imitation
in court circles was looked on with a friendly eye, at least as then, is the Lady with a Fan? The costume and pose have
Who,
here been interpreted as arguments against her being a
long as she seemed to be doing valuable work for the Spanish
cause.104 Spanish woman, and the resemblance of the sitter with por-
For whom these portraits were painted is equally difficult
traits of the duchess of Chevreuse has been suggested. Taken
to answer clearly. The Wallace Collection painting left no
together with the written evidence that Velazquez actually
recognizable trace in any Spanish document, while the Chats-
portrayed this Frenchwoman, the identification of the sitter
with Marie de Rohan, duchess of Chevreuse, is proposed.
worth picture was in the collection of the marquis of Carpio
by 1677 and was bought by the count of Monterrey in 1692.105Let us return to the Lady with a Fan and look again at the
The painting ended up in England before 1753.106 Both display of attributes and the interaction of gesture and facial
expression with the observer. The costume and ornaments
portraits are believed to be either by the hand of Velazquez107
belong to French fashion, but the duchess of Chevreuse in
or from his studio, making it probable that they were painted
for the king or for one of the courtiers nearest to him. Spain
The owed her protection, even to the clothes she wore, to
count-duke of Olivares or his nephew Don Luis de Haro theare
goodwill of the Spanish king. The fingers on the veil draw
logical candidates, as they certainly knew the duchess person-
our attention to this shielding garment, and one of the layers
of meaning in this complex portrait may be a delicate ac-
ally, and the 1677 inventory in which the Chatsworth painting
first appears was that of Don Luis's son, the marquis of
knowledgment of her gracious reception by the king. Her
Carpio. Since we know nothing of the whereabouts of the
costume asserts her French nationality and grace, her elegant

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SIGNS OF IDENTITY IN LADY WITH A FAN BY DIEGO VELAZQUEZ 91

19 James Stowe, after Paulus Moreelse,


Marie de Rohan ... from a Picture Once in
the Collection of King Charles the First....,
London, 1798. Madrid, Biblioteca
Nacional

theme,
gesture responds to honor received, and her face betrays theone that was treated on numerous occasions b
worry of a woman in a dangerous situation. TheVelazquez's
serious literary contemporaries such as Francisco Q
vedo and Pedro Calder6n de la Barca. In the enormous
expression of the face in the upper part of the composition
contrasts with the decorative rhythm of the displayedoeuvre of Calder6n, the most obvious references to the pl
hands,
between
fan, veil, and ornaments in the lower half of the painting. Thereality and pictorial illusion appear in his drama
sitter appears distracted, recalling the aspect of pintor
someone de su deshonra (The painter of his dishonor).109 Th
compression
gazing fixedly into space. She looks in the direction of the of meaning expressed in a visual image
viewer, but-perhaps for considerations of decorum-not
doubt held a strong appeal in an intellectual climate
directly into the eyes, as does, for example, Juan devalued
Parejathe
in pithy understatement of conceptismo. To his c
Velazquez's portrait of his assistant and friend. temporaries,
Velazquez Velazquez exemplified the genius necessar
paint
painted a face of preoccupied gravity, of someone with such truth. To convey it, Velazquez passed beyo
great
concerns. The sitter perhaps used the time of posing for rendering to composing with signs of identity w
mimetic
working through a catalogue of options and intrigues.
he pictured the Lady with a Fan. To his sitters, seeing the
selves thus revealed, Velazquez's skill may have been discon
Velazquez's Lady with a Fan reveals an encounter between
a woman of intelligence and experience and an artist whoWe cannot know what the duchess of Chevreuse m
certing.
captured "verdad,.... no semejantes" (truth, not imitation).
have thought of the portrait Velazquez painted of her,
In seventeenth-century Spain the power of paintingperhaps to revealshe, too, like Pope Innocent X, found it to b
a truth otherwise difficult to detect was a characteristic "troppo vero."

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92 ART BULLETIN MARCH 2004 VOLUME LXXXVI NUMBER 1

20 Hollar, Spring, 1641. London, The British Museum (photo:


? The British Museum) 21 Hollar, Summer, 1641. London, The British Museum
(photo: ? The British Museum)

Alastair Laing for vital bibliographic information. Over a number of years I


Zahira Veliz completed her Ph.D. at the Courtauld Institute in 1998
have benefited from lively discussions on the subject of this paper with
and has published on seventeenth-century Spanish painting and Enriqueta Harris. The fundamental arguments presented here arose initially
drawing. She is currently preparing a critical study and cataloguefrom a lecture I gave at the Museo del Prado in 1999. I was helped enormously
by Barbara Pezzini in the early stages of this research. Unless otherwise noted,
raisonne of Alonso Cano's drawings and a biography of Lorenzo van
the translations are mine.
der Hammen y Leon [80 Stamford Brook Road, London, W6 1. Memorial hist6rico espanol, 289, vi-xiii, 258-349 passim. See also Antonio
OXN, U.K.]. Rodriguez Villa, La corte y monarquia de Espana en los anos de 1636 y 1637
(Madrid, 1886), 211-60 passim.
2. Ingamells, 411-14, cat. no. P88.
3. The descendants of the duchess of Chevreuse bore the alternative
titles of duke of Luynes and duke of Chevreuse, reflecting their inheritance
Frequently Cited Sources from her two marriages. The incident of Lucien Bonaparte's dinner party is
recounted in Thomas de Luynes, Le Faubourg Saint-Germain: La rue Saint-Domi-
nique (Paris: Mus6e Rodin, 1984), 54-67: "La presque totalit6 de la collec-
Beaulieu, Michele, Contribution l'etude de la mode a Paris: Les transformations du
tion de tableaux, laiss6e sur place lorsque le duc se retira a Dampierre en
costume elegant sous le rkgne de Louis XIII (1610-1643) (Paris: Librairie R.1792, fut mise en vente a l'h6tel de Buillion par Paillet et Lebrun ... le nom
Munier, 1936). des acquereures n'est pas connu. Mais Paillet et Lebrun avaient retenu
Bomli, P. W., La femme dans l'Espagne du sikcle d'or (The Hague: Martinus quelques toiles que l'on vit r6apparaitre au cours de ventes sous le Consulat
Nijhoff, 1950). et l'Empire. C'est ainsi que le duc de Luynes, alors senateur, allant diner chez
Ingamells,John, The Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Pictures (London: Trustees Lucien Bonaparte a l'h6tel de Brienne, rue Saint-Dominique, reconnut deux
of the Wallace Collection, 1985-92). toiles que lui avaient appartenu 'et qu'il a 6et oblige de vendre a des
L6pez-Rey,Jose, Velazquez: The Artist as a Maker, with a Catalogue Raisonne of His brocanteurs dans le temps des s6questres, des emprisonnements et des emi-
Extant Works (Paris: Bibliotheque des Arts, 1979). grations.' En apprenant cela, Lucien Bonaparte fit reporter les deux toiles
Memorial historico espaiol, vol. 14 (Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia, chez le due, mais la majorit6 de la collection ducale 6tait d6finitivement
1862). dispersee" (Nearly the entire collection of paintings, having lost their
home when the duke retired to Dampierre in 1792, was sold at the Hotel de
Palomino, Antonio, El museo pictorico y escala 6ptica, 3 vols., 2nd ed. (Madrid:
Buillion by Paillet and Lebrun ... the name of the buyers is unknown. But
Aguilar, 1988).
Paillet and Lebrun had retained some canvases, which were seen to reappear
in the series of sales under the Consulate and the Empire. Thus it was that
the duc de Luynes, now a senator, was dining at the home of Lucien
Bonaparte....).
Notes 4. Ibid., 55.
5. Lopez-Rey, 388-89. Ingamells, 411-14, records a comparison of the two
paintings in 1981 from which it was concluded that the Chatsworth painting
My research was supported by the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles,
was a studio work, possibly byJuan Martinez del Mazo, Velazquez's son-in-law.
where I was a Museum Scholar in 2002. I am grateful to Gridley McKim-Smith,
Jennifer Fletcher, Dawson Carr, and David Bomford, whose comments on the It would be extremely valuable to compare the works again, however, since in
draft of this article led to numerous improvements. I am very grateful 1981
to the Chatsworth painting was covered by a darkened and yellowed layer

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SIGNS OF IDENTITY IN LADY WITH A FAN BY DIEGO VELAZQUEZ 93

of varnish, as it still is. The Wallace Collection portrait had been cleaned21.six
Pacheco (as in n. 15), 202.
years earlier, revealing the painting at its best. 22. Palomino, vol. 1, 322-23, reveals something of how modestia should be
6. Marcus Burke and Peter Cherry, Documents for the History of Collecting:
understood in creative activity: ".... pero desponjandonos de todo linaje de
Collections of Paintings in Madrid, 1601-1755 (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Trust,
pasi6n, la modestia, siendo facultad de discretos, no nos prescribira leyes de
1997), pt. 1, 837: "114 Un quadro de Una muger Con Velo negro Con punttas tontos: la dificultad esta en deponer el propio amor" (... however, divesting
En la Caveza Con su Valona Vestido de Amarillo Listtado negro original de of every sort of passion, modesty-being a faculty of discretos [those
ourselves
Diego Velazquez de Vara y tterzia de Caida y media Vara y sesma de ancho possessed of wit and ingenuity]-will guide us not into the ways of fools. The
Con marco en mill Rs. 1000." The valuation was made by Claudio Coello and is in doing away with pride).
difficulty
Jose Donoso, two prominent artists at the court of Charles II who should have23. Enriqueta Harris, "The Cleaning of Velazquez's Lady with a Fan," Bur-
been very familiar with Velazquez's hand. Their decided opinion thatlington the Magazine 117 (1975): 316-19.
portrait is an autograph work by Velazquez should not be discarded 24. tooL6pez-Rey, 388.
lightly. 25. Ingamells, 411 and n. 12.
7. Burke and Cherry (as in n. 6), 835-37. 26. Lilian Zirpolo, "MadreJer6nima de la Fuente and Lady with a Fan: Two
8. For an insightful and extensive discussion of the nature of the artist-sitter Portraits by Velazquez Reexamined," Woman's Art Journal 15, no. 1 (1994):
relationship in early modern portraiture, see Harry Berger Jr., Fictions of the 16-21.
Pose: Rembrandt against the Italian Renaissance (Stanford: Stanford University 27. Memorial historico espaiol, 289: "... y Diego Velazquez la esta retratando
Press, 2000). Arguments in this article were influenced particularly by Ber- con el aire y traje de frances," quoted from correspondence between Jesuit
ger's discussion in chap. 2, "Politics: The Apparatus of Commissioning Por- priests in Madrid and Seville.
traits." Equally, some of the ideas presented by Joanna Woodall, "Introduc- 28. Harris (as in n. 23), 19.
tion: Facing the Subject," in Portraiture: Facing the Subject (Manchester: 29. L6pez-Rey, 388.
Manchester University Press, 1997), 1-25, helped to focus the view of Lady 30. Victor Cousin, Madame de Chevreuse et Madame de Hautefort: Nouvelles
with a Fan presented in this article. Finally, Juan Molina Cort6n, "'Troppo 6tudes sur les femmes illustrees et la societe du XVIIe siecle (Paris: Didier, 1856),
vero': Aspectos filos6ficos y morales de la retratistica velazquefia," Cuadernos de 285-89, for a partial transcription of the report to Richelieu by President
Arte e Iconografia 7, no. 13 (1998): 195-217, provided insights into the intel- Vignier, who took down evidence from all the witnesses who had seen the
lectual climate of Velazquez's Spain that were fundamental to the interpre- fugitive en route to Spain (Paris, Bibliothbque Nationale de France, Collec-
tation of Lady with a Fan presented here. tion Du Puy, 499, 500, 501).
9.Jose Antonio Maravall, Velazquez y el espiritu de la modernidad (Madrid: 31. Memorial hist6rico espanol, vi.
Alianza, 1987), 79. 32. Ibid., 288-89.
10. For an assiduous exploration of the theatrical dimension in Baroque 33. See Memorial hist6rico, passim, and Rodriguez Villa (as in n. 1), 211-60,
courtly portraits, see Emilie Gordenker, Anthony Van Dyck and the Representa- passim.
tion of Dress in Seventeenth-Century Portraiture (Turnhout: Brepols, 2001). Al- 34. Memorial hist6rico espafol, xi.
though many of the details of Van Dyck's method of constructing identity are
35. Oliver Millar, "Abraham van der Doort's Catalogue of the Collections of
irrelevant in considering Velazquez, it is true that each artist was able Charles I," Walpole Society 37 (1958-60): 61: "Item In the dutchess of Shivereys
"[t]hrough costume... to present his patrons both as expressions of their
lodging above the Chimney place, dureing the time of her aboad here A
ideals (and sometimes as actors or participants in a fiction), and as actual
Peece being aJudeth Cutting of Holofernus head ... done by Gwedo Bollo-
people" (48). nees."
11. Juan Miguel Serrera, "Alonso Sanchez Coello y la mecanica del retrato
36. Memorial hist6rico espafol, viii: "... es bella en extremo, blanca y rubia, y
de corte," in Alonso Sdnchez Coello y el retrato en la corte de Felipe II, exh. cat.,
Museo del Prado, Madrid, 1990, 38-63.
tiene el semblante majestuoso y dulce a un tiempo" (... she is extremely
beautiful, pale and blonde, and the expression of her face is at once majestic
12. Ibid., 43-44. See also David Davies, "The Anatomy of Spanish Habsburg
and sweet); Rodriguez Villa (as in n. 1), 233: "ella era muy bizarra, despechu-
Portraits," in The Ram6n Perez de Ayala Lecture 1992 (London: Department of
gada y desenfadada, mirando a los que caminaban delante y a los lados" (she
History of Art, University College, London, 1998).
was elegant, with a risque neckline and a free air, and looking at those walking
13. Palomino, vol. 3, 214.
before her and at her sides). French descriptions are summarized in the
14. DonJuan Velez de Guevara, "Soneto," trans. Enriqueta Harris, Velazquez
words of the most recent biographer of the duchess of Chevreuse in Georges
(Oxford: Phaidon Press, 1982), 200. For the Spanish text in context, see
Poisson, La duchesse de Chevreuse (Paris: Perrin, 1999), 12: "Les contemporains
Palomino, vol. 3, 214: "Pincel, que a lo atrevido, y a lo fuerte / les robas la
ont porte sur Marie de Rohan desjugements bien divers, mais s'accordent sur
verdad, tan bien fingida, / que la ferocidad en ti es temida, / y el agrado
un point: elle etait ravissante, et le demeura longtemps. Elle etait petite
parece que divierte. // Di: ?Retratas, o animas? Pues de suerte / esa copia real
estf excedida, / que juzgara que el lienzo tiene vida, / como cupiera en lo ... mais remarquablement faite. Un visage lisse, d'un ovale accentue, un peu
lunaire, aux sourcils epiles et auquel seuls l'animation et sans doute le plaisir
insensible muerte. // Tanto el regio dominio, que ha heredado / el retrato
amoureux donnaient de l'eclat. Une chevelure fauve, tirant sur le roux...."
publica esclarecido, / que aun el mandar la vista le ha eschuchado. // Y ya
que en el poder es parecido, / lo mas dificultoso has imitado, que es mas facil
(Marie de Rohan's contemporaries held quite diverse opinions about her, but
el ser obedecido." were agreed on one point: she was ravishing, and her beauty lasted into later
15. Francisco Pacheco, El arte de la pintura (1649), ed. Bonaventuralife. She was petite... but remarkably well made. Her smooth oval face,
Basse-
goda i Hugas (Madrid: Ediciones Catedra, 1990), 524-26. somewhat moonlike, with plucked brows, lit up only with animation and,
16. Ibid., 525. undoubtedly, amorous pleasure. Fawn-colored hair, tending toward red....).
17. For a brief, informative essay on this aspect of artistic thought in Spain, 37. The interpretation of these adjectives should take into account the
see Molina Cort6n (as in n. 8). subjective relativity of cultural perceptions: light chestnut hair could quite
18. Pacheco (as in n. 15), 525-26. easily be grouped with light or blond in a population where the predominant
19. The cleric and humanist Lorenzo van der Hamen y Le6n, in the coloring was very dark brown or black hair and brown or black eyes. The same
introduction to his devotional work Limosna, excelencias calidades, prerrogativas light chestnut hair might be classed as brown or dark in a population where
yfrutos suyos (Granada: Baltasar de Bolibar, Imprenta Real, 1658), recognized the norm was light blond hair, fair skin, and blue eyes.
the difficulty in endowing a painted image with abstract qualities when he 38. Cousin (as in n. 30), 7, describes the duchess of Chevreuse as blue-eyed,
wrote, "No son, como piensan algunos (error vulgar) los retratos, aunque de but he admits that this observation is based on a copy of a portrait, not an
mano de Zeuxis, Apeles, Tintoreto el Ticiano, o de otro pinzel valiente los original.
verdaderos. La Fama, el Nombre, la Opini6n son los originales, los retratos 39. Rodriguez Villa (as in n. 1), 233.
parecidos ... y es la razon, porque aquellos no manifiestan mas que los 40. Memorial hist6rico espaiol, 266.
perfiles, facciones, y colorido del semblante.... Estotros representan al vivo 41. Ibid., 273: "ha sido generalmente muy bien recibida de toda la Corte, y
lo interior del hombre, sus afectos y pasiones, sus virtudes o vicios...." es persona que se lo merece por su buen porte y la afabilidad con que a todos
(Portraits do not, as some may think [a common error] capture true likeness, trata" (she has been generally well received by all the court, as she deserves for
though they be by the hand of Xeuxis, Apelles, Tintoretto or Titian, or some her manner and affability with all whom she meets); 290: ". .. aqui se ha
other valient brush. Reputation, name, and opinion comprise the original, gobernado con mucha cordura. ..." (.. here she has behaved with great
and portraits capture appearances, because they [portraits] show only the prudence); 349: "... tiene entendimiento y agrado" (... she has intelligent
contours, features, and coloring of the face, while these other [qualities] understanding and is pleasant).
reveal the inner life of the man, his affections and passions, his virtues and 42. Daniel Roche, The Culture of Clothing: Dress and Fashion in the "Ancien
vices....). Regime" (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 9. In Gordenker (as
20. Francisco de Quevedo, trans. Gridley McKim-Smith, Examining Veldzquez in n. 10), the study of costume in portraits by Anthony Van Dyck has been the
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988), 17. For the original Spanish, see key to interpreting the codes of meaning in the costume, posture, gesture,
Francisco de Quevedo, Obra completa, ed.Jose Manuel Blecua, 4 vols. (Madrid: and even facial expression of his sitters.
Castalia, 1969-81), vol. 2, 403-4: "Silva al pincel-Y por ti el gran Velazquez 43. Roche (as in n. 42), 49-52.
ha podido / Diestro, cuanto ingenioso, / Ansi animar lo hermoso, / Ansi dar 44. M. de Grenaille, La mode, ou charactre de la religion, de la vie, de la
a lo m6rbido sentido / Con las manchas distantes; / Que son verdad en 1e, no conversation, de la solitude, des compliments, des habits et du style du temps (Paris,
semejantes." 1642), 130-31.

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94 ART BULLETIN MARCH 2004 \VOI,UME LXXXVI NUMBER 1

45. Louise Godard de Donville, Signification de la mode sous Louis XIII (Aix- places by Velazquez's assistant and son-in-law, Juan Martinez del Mazo, such
en-Provence: Universite de Provence, 1976), 50, 232. as The Street of the Queen in Aranjuez, in the Prado.
46. Roche (as in n. 42), 47. 72. Carlos Garcia, Antipatia de los franceses y espanoles (Rouen, 1627), 261:
47. Beaulieu, 85-87. "Un Frances siendo favorecido de su Dama, no estudia en otra cosa que en
48. Some exceptions may be cited in paintings by Valencian artists, who, mostrar a sus amigos, y a todo el mundo su privanca y favor Cosa que
perhaps because of their relative proximity to Italy, were readier to depict estremamente aborrece el Espanol, pues quando esto le sucede pone toda su
female nudity, as can be seen in Clio, Allegory of History byJose Ribera (the diligencia y cuydado en cubrir del mundo, de sus amigos, y de si mismo (si
Hermitage, St. Petersburg) or in The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine by Pedro puede) este contento. Y finalmente se hallan en este particular dos movimien-
Orrente (Museo de Bellas Artes, Bilbao). tos contrarios entre ellos, porque el Frances procura sacar fuera lo que esta
49. Beaulieu, 113-17. The inventories cited by Beaulieu reflect a prepon- dentro escondido: y el Espanol al contrario, no procura otro que esconder lo
derance of somber-colored clothing: many black materials, including serge, que esta fuera."
taffeta, and linen; blue or green velvets; and, most interestingly, "Holland 73. Bernis (as in n. 70), 201.
cloth of a nice chestnut color [drap de Hollande coulleur de noizette chamarre]," 74. Although L6pez-Rey, 388, catalogues this work as autograph, recent
words that might be used to describe the fabric worn by the sitter in Lady with scholarly opinion appears less favorable: "Although listed in the Carpio
a Fan. collection, Madrid, 1677, as an original by Velazquez, the face mask is a very
50.Jose Deleito y Pifuelo, La mujer, la casa y la moda, 3rd ed. (Madrid: careful copy from [Lady with a Fan], and elsewhere the execution is inferior,
Espasa Calpe, 1966), 177: "Ninguna dejaba de llevar un panuelo bordado de as was apparent when the two paintings were placed side by side in 1981"
batista finisima y de tamano grande." (Ingamells, 412). In such a comparison, however, the Chatsworth painting
51. Helene Alexander, Fans, Shire Album, vol. 243 (Princes Risborough, would be at a disadvantage because of the heavy and discolored varnish that
Eng.: Shire, 1989), 10. still obscures much detail. A more informative comparison between the
52. Bomli, 137. paintings could be made if they were equally visible. Revelations might also
53. Comtesse d'Aulnoy, "Relation du voyage d'Espagne (1679)," Revue His- arise from a comparison of X-radiographs of the two images. In the mean-
panique 67 (1926), quoted in Bomli, 138. time, it seems only fair to maintain an open mind about the authorship of the
54. One example is in the pendant portraits Philip II and Ana of Austria by Chatsworth painting.
Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1575, Prado. 75. L6pez-Rey, 388.
76. Ibid.
55. In a print after the Lady with a Fan made while it was in the Lucien
Bonaparte collection, the engraver drew a slender crucifix below the ribbon. 77. Ibid. Lopez-Rey translates the dimensions in the Carpio inventory as 44
This was painted out subsequently and revealed again only in the 1975 by 38 in. (112 by 97 cm). The painting now measures 38 2 by 191/ in. (98 by
49 cm).
cleaning. For more recent interpretations, see Ingamells, 414 n. 1.
56. Maurice Leloir, Dictionnaire du costume et de ses accessoires (Paris: E. Henry, 78. Mary Elizabeth Perry and Anne J. Cruz, Culture and Control in Counter-
1951), 279. Reformation Spain (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1992). See esp.
57. An example of the later Spanish mode of attaching medals and amulets chap. 6, "Magdalens and Jezebels in Counter-Reformation Spain," 124-44,
to the waist can be seen in Velazquez's late portrait The Infanta Maria Teresaand chap. 7, "La Bella Malmaridada: Lessons for the Good Wife," 145-71. See
(1652-53, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna). This may be a devout inter-also Mary Elizabeth Perry, Gender and Disorder in Early Modern Seville (Prince-
pretation of the French fashion of the 1630s. ton: Princeton University Press, 1990), passim.
58. Beaulieu, 104-5: "L'an 1635 Richelieu fonde l'Academie; aussit6t on 79. Gesture was also intellectually fashionable as a model universal lan-
lance un nouveau soulier avec des rubans lies en 'noeud d'amour' qui guage, a theory supported by the Europeans' contact with indigenous peoples
with whom communication was often best achieved through signs. See James
prendront le nom de la nouvelle institution. Ici la mode se haussejusqu'a se
R. Knowlson, "The Idea of Gesture as a Universal Language in the XVIIth and
faire le reflet d'un evenement d'ordre intellectuel" (In the year 1635 Rich-
XVIIIth Centuries," Journal of the History of Ideas 26 (1965): 495-598.
elieu founded the Academy; immediately, a new boot became fashionable,
with ribbons attached that were tied in a love knot that took the name of the
80. Adolfo Carrasco Martinez, "Fisonomia de la virtud: Gestos, movimientos
new institution. Here fashion has elevated itself to reflect an intellectual y palabras en la cultura cortesano-artistocratica del siglo XVII," Reales Sitios 38,
no. 147 (2001): 26-37.
event).
81. See Gordenker (as in n. 10), passim.
59. Camille Piton, Le costume civil en France (Paris: Ernest Flammarion,
1913), 196.
82. Herman Roodenburg, "The Hand of Friendship," in A Cultural History
of Gesture, ed. Roodenburg andJan Bremmer (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University
60. "Galerie du Palais Royal," 1637, quoted in Andre Blum, Abraham Bosse
Press, 1991), 160-61.
et la societefranfaise au dix-septieme siecle (Paris: Albert Morance, 1924), 90. A
83. Garcia (as in n. 72), 287.
similar image is evoked by the lines of Bertrand in the 1660 poem "Galerie du
84. Ibid., 205-6: "Si preguntamos a un espanol que le parece del modo y
Palais": "J'ai de beaux masques, de beaux glands / De beaux mouchoirs, de
costumbre que los franceses tienen en saludar las damas besandoles en el
beaux galans; / Venez ici, Mademoiselle, /J'ai de bellissime dentelle, / Des
rostro, allegandose a ellas y tocandoles con desenvoltura y libertad que se
points coupes qui sont fort beaux, / De beaux etuis, de beaux ciseaux, / De
practica en Francia, verdaderamente perdera los estribos de la paciencia y
la neige des plus nouvelles; /J'ai des cravates les plus belles, / Un manchon,
sera del todo imposible podelle persuadir que la tal ceremonia tenga algo de
un bel evantail / Des pendans d'oreilles d'email / Une coiffe de crapau- civil y cortes. Y al juicio de un frances, la cortesia, urbanidad y recato de los
daille...." (I have some pretty masks, and tassels, some lovely handkerchiefs,
espanoles parecera la cosa mas barbara y grosera del mundo."
and lovely bows; Come here young lady, I have most beautiful lace, trimmed 85. Ibid.
cuffs that are so pretty, pretty cases and pretty scissors, the newest laces, the 86. Roodenburg (as in n. 82), 157.
loveliest ties, a muff, a pretty fan, some enameled earrings, a headdress of 87. Nicolas Faret, The Honest Man: or, The Art to Please in Court, trans. E.
black crepe .... ); quoted in Piton (as in n. 59), 200. Grimestone (London, 1632).
61. Beaulieu, 84-86: "Une partie de la chevelure est relevee sur le sommet 88.Jacques du Bosque, La honnestefemme, 2nd ed. (Paris, 1636), translated
de la tite, l'autre est convertie en longues boucles ou 'serpentaux' encadrant as The Accomplish'd Woman: Written originally in French and since made English by
le visage" (One part of the hair is taken up toward the crown, the other is the Honourable Walter Montagu esq. (London, 1656).
made into long curls or "serpents" that frame the face). 89. Faret (as in n. 87), 362-63.
62. Ibid., 105: "Longtemps les femmes se couvrirent d'un long voile de 90. Ibid., 370-76.
deuil pou- se rendre a l'offic des Tenebres (c'est une coutume qui etait 91. Du Bosque, 1656 (as in n. 88), 28.
encore en usage en Espagne il y a quelques annees); on s'apercut bientot que 92. Ibid., 113.
ce crepe noir faisait ressortir la blancheur du teint et on transforma le voile 93. Perry (as in n. 78), 68.
en une coiffe nouee sous le menton qui prit le nom de 'tenebre."' 94. Friar Vicente Mexia, Saludable instruccion del estado del matrimonio (Cor-
63. Ibid., 114: "Unq manteau de drap d'Espaigne noir...." doba, 1566), 135, 213.
64. See Bomli, 140, and the thorough discussion in Carmen Bernis, El traje 95. Manuela Mena Marques, "La imagen de la mujer en la pintura espanola
y los lipos sociales en1 El Quijote (Madrid: Ediciones el Viso, 2001), 246-56. en comparacion con la pintura italiana," in Actas de las terceras jornadas de
65. See Anglois, from Allain Manesson-Mallet, Description de l'universe (Paris: investigacion interdisciplinaria: La imagen de la mujer en el arte espanol (Madrid:
Denys Thierry, 1683), in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Seminario de Estudios de la Mujer, Universidad Aut6noma de Madrid, 1984),
66. Mlemorial historico espanol, 266. 87-111, at 87.
67. The royal decree, Pregon en que su Magestad manda que ninguna muger de 96. Perry (as in n. 78), 58. Perry cites the example that illegitimate births
qualquier estado, y calidad que sea, pueda traer, ni traiga guardainfante ..., was accounted for 25 percent of births recorded in Seville at the end of the 16th
issued in Seville, April 1639. century, and in 1650 the number had dropped to 10 percent.
68. Deleito y Pinluela (as in n. 50), 157; see also MariaJose y Pedro Voltes, 97. Ibid., 53-54.
Las LLmujeres en lac histOnia de EIspaia (Barcelona: Planeta, 1986), 78. 98. Palomino, vol. 2, 264-65. Palomino discusses the moral danger of
69. Iariris, 1975 (as in n. 23), 19. portraits being used to excite sensual delight and cautions both the commis-
7(). Carmen Bei-iiis, "El 'vestido Franc-l s' en la Espana de Felipe IV," Archivo sioner of such a work and the painter who makes it against falling into
Espcanol de Arte 55 (1982): 201-8. insidious sin.
71. Bomnli, 128. The rarity of the guardainjfate in everyday life is fut-ther 99. Copia de los pare(eres, y censuras de los reverendisimos padres maestros, y senores
suggested by thie feminine costtume recorded in views of public events or catedraticos de las insignes ulniversidades de Salamanca y Alcala, y de otras personas

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SIGNS OF IDENTITY IN LADI WITH A FAN BY DIEGO VELAZQUEZ 95

doctas. Sobre el abuso de lafiguras, y pinturas lascivas, y deshonestas. ... (Madrid, Imperio" (The arrival of the Chevreuse was maliciously planned by the
1632), in Francisco Calvo Serraller, ed., Teoria de la pintura del siglo de oro Cardinal, because she gave assurance ... of agreement with England, and the
(Madrid: Catedra, 1981), 235-58. marriage of our prince with the daughter [of England, that is, of Charles I],
100. Palomino, "La practica de la pintura," vol. 2, 385: 'Y si fuere el and before long it would be seen how boldly she deceived us.... This is how
sitio . ., habitaci6n de sefioras, debe huirse totalmente de las fabulas, bus- the English keep peace, and in this way Richelieu deceives us through the
cando siempre asuntos nobles, decorosos, honestos, y ejemplares." offices of a woman, for while she was here offering friendship with the
101. This engraving is based on a painting once in the collection of Charles English, they had sent the army on campaign to help his [Charles I's] nephew
I and sold at Christie's, London, Oct. 28, 1966, lot 45. The painting was against the empire).
inscribed "Maria de Rohan" and signed and dated 1628. Although Sir Oliver 104.J. H. Elliott, "The Year of the Three Ambassadors," in History and
Millar expressed the view that the painting does not represent Maria de Imagination, ed. Hugh Lloyd-Jones et al. (London: Duckworth, 1981).
Rohan (see the note in Christie's sale catalogue), the woman portrayed bears 105. L6pez-Rey, 388.
some resemblance to the face in the Versailles portrait (Fig. 4). 106. Ibid.
102. Roche (as in n. 42), 51. 107. Ibid.
103. Memorial historico espaiol, 414-15: "la venida de la Gebrose [Chevreuse] 108. The portrait painted by Velazquez of the duke of Modena in 1638
ha sido maliciosa y trazada por el Cardenal, porque ella asegur6... el aco- accompanied the sitter when he returned to Italy, and there is even evidence
modamiento con Inglaterra, con el casamiento de nuestro principe con su that he paid Velazquez for it. So a foreigner leaving Spain with a portrait by
hija, y adelante se vera como nos engafi6 afrentosamente.... De esta manera Velazquez was not without precedent.
guarda la paz el ingles, y de esta manera nos engana Richelieu por medio de 109. Pedro Calder6n de la Barca, El pintor de su deshonra, ed. Manuel Ruis
una muger; pues cuando ella estaba ofreciendo aqui la amistad del ingles, Lagos, Colecci6n Aula Magna, no. 19 (Madrid: Alcala, 1969). For Quevedo,
habia 1l echado en campafia su ejercito para ayudar a su sobrino contra el see n. 20 above.

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