Folding fan with The Finding of Romulus and Remus

Mythological scenes were popular subjects for fan leaves throughout the eighteenth century. This fan depicts the moment when the twins Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome, were discovered by the banks of the Tiber. The infants had been suckled by a she-wolf and were then raised in the household of the shepherd Faustulis (shown dismounting his horse) and his wife, Laurentia. The central vignette and that to the right are based on a painting by Carlo Maratti (1625 – 1713), which was reproduced as an engraving by a member of his workshop, Robert van Audenaerde (1663 – 1743). (1) However, the composition of the fan shows some changes from that of the engraving. The wolf who nurtured the infants has been eliminated, and the kneeling figure who lifts one of the children into the arms of the shepherd’s wife now appears to be a woman, rather than another young shepherd, as in the engraving.(2) The central scene on the sticks shows several soldiers approaching a seated woman and another female standing behind her. This may be an illustration of the meeting of the god Mars and the vestal virgin Rhea Silvia, whose romance resulted in the birth of the twins.(3) In addition to the quality of the skillfully painted fan leaf, the sticks and guards deserve notice for the delicacy of the carved and pierced decoration. The material appears to be a superior type of tortoiseshell — it is a paler shade and has fewer markings than the more common variety.(4) The carving has been highlighted by the application of metal leaf in four tones of gold and silver. At least two other fans decorated with mythological scenes after engravings of Maratti’s work survive. There is another version of Romulus and Remus in the State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg (this one includes the she-wolf), and one of the god Janus closing the gates of war, an allegory of the transition from winter to spring, in the collection of the Worshipful Company of Fan Makers of the City of London.(5) As is customary, the reverse of this piece is less elaborate than the obverse. The subject is a pastoral scene with figures wearing versions of antique-style dress. The seated woman in the center is spinning thread with a distaff and drop spindle, perhaps a reference to peaceful domesticity.

Catalogue entry from: Melinda Watt. The Robert Lehman Collection. Decorative Arts, Vol. XV. Wolfram Koeppe, et al. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in association with Princeton University Press, 2012, pp. 398-399.

NOTES:
1. Versions of this engraving by Van Audenaerde are held in the British Museum, London, and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris. A drawing by Maratti has been identified as a study for the painting (Dowley, Francis H. “A Few Drawings by Carlo Maratti.” Master Drawings 4, no. 4 (Winter), 1966, pp. 426 – 28, pl. 40; sale, Christie’s, New York, 22 January 2004, lot 45). The painting, produced between 1680 and 1692 for Marchese Niccolò Maria Pallavicini, is in Schloss Sanssouci, Potsdam.
2. The absence of the wolf, which was essential to the survival of the twins, suggests that perhaps the designer chose to de-emphasize the association with the mythical Romulus and Remus. It is possible that the leaf was painted to celebrate the contemporary birth of twins. I am grateful to James David Draper, Henry R. Kravis Curator, Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, for this proposition.
3. To date, no source for the composition on the fan sticks has been found; a painting by Peter Paul Rubens of this subject from about 1616 – 17, now in the collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein (GE122), shows Mars swiftly approaching the seated Rhea Silvia.
4. I thank Linda Borsch, conservator, Objects Conservation department, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, for her technical examination of the fan and for her helpful comments regarding the use of tortoiseshell.
5. State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, 3369 (see Imperial Fans from the Hermitage. Exhibition, Fan Museum, 17 October 1997 – 15 February 1998. Catalogue. London, 1997, no. 2); for the Janus fan, see Willcocks, Clive, and Yvonne Willcocks. Fans and Fan Makers: The Craft and History of the Worshipful Company of Fan Makers of the City of London. London, 2000, p. 30. Two versions of the engraving of Janus by Van Audenaerde are in the British Museum, London.

Robert Lehman, New York