François Boucher, Aeneas in the Underworld, Design for a Fan
Otto Miller, 1941.547 · The Cleveland Museum of Art, Open Access (CC0)View original →
François Boucher

Aeneas in the Underworld, Design for a Fan

after 1730

Current Collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Medium
watercolor and gouache
Dimensions
27.2 × 54.8 cm
Status
In Museum Collection
Collect24 Art ID
C24-1102755

Both practical and fashionable, fans were essential accessories for elite European women in the 1700s. Often decorated with elaborate motifs, a fan could reveal information about its wearer. It might expose a woman’s artistic or literary tastes, divulge her politics, or disclose her knowledge of current cultural conversations. The design seen here represents an episode from The Aeneid, a Latin epic poem, suggesting the owner’s interest in recent translations of classical poetry. It could also operate as a metaphor for the Enlightenment: seen entering a cave at right, the hero, Aeneas, travels…

Provenance

Otto Miller, 1941.547

Registry history

  • after 1730 — Recorded in the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art — drawings

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