Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1885-08-28
THE FAN.
Cow It Has Been Used In Ancient and Mod
ern Times Among the People Of Various
Matthias

Of'Art, Queen square, says The London
Telegraph, are exhibited some exquis-
itels painted fans, the work of students
OF the school. Such Il fan, it is stated,
her majesty the queen, the most illus
triOus of collectors and amateurs, in
tends to give the Princess Beatrice on
the occasion of her marriage. judy
ing by the reputation of those who are
intrusted with Carrying out the'royal
commands, the work when completed
should deserve to rank with the best
specimens OF the art in it's palnliest
days of the seventeenth century.
Those who take an interest in a fas-
.cinating subject, which from time to
time has employed the genius of many
OF the most skillful painters, versifers
and handicraftsmen of Europe ever
since the Renaissance, will not fail to
remember that the delightful loan ex-
hibtion of fans at South kensington
in toe year 1870 was actually initiated
and largely supported by the queen
During The past fifteen years there
have been other exhibitions of the kind
but the catalogue Of the first Keusing-
ton loan collection still keeps it's place,
and is most highly priced by amateurs.
1t is no uncommon complaint that
gentlewomen obliged by necessity to
earn Il living find few paths open to
their enterprise. Yet, ii the Oft neg
lected and oft revived fashion Of using
painted fans were to come in again,
OWING to an impetus given from the
highest quarter, another and a wide
field would be afforded to female labor.
In Partisan directory Of about q
century and a quarter ago the master
lawmakers number $50, and each mas
ter must have employed large guam
tity OF educated artists and ingenious
artisans to supply the immense de-
mand of the time for such beautiful
tritles. AS q matter of course, the
lady students OF the Slade school, in
Queen square, and at South Kensing-
ton. and the inuuluerable schools of
design scattered up and down the
country, could not acquire the delicate
touch of the true fan-painter without
some natural aptitude, and consd-
cradle amount OF patience and close
application. If, however, wealthy
ladies would but follow the leade Of
the first lady in the land, and the
market were there. the rest would
follow. Eng Land abounds in magnii-
cent specimens OF the best period of
the Partisan fancultus. For this rea-
son, when the noble and gentle. emf
grants, driven from France by the
horrors and rigors of the revolution,
sought q shelter on our shores the
ladies brought their jewels and their
fans along with them; and afterward
tho poverty, not the will, of the pos
SCISSORS induced them to part with their
loved treasures for o garment and a
meal. In this way history plays
strange freaks. According to Brillat
Savarin, the elegant emigress from
the salons of Marie Antoinette--her-
self a passionate fan amateur-were
fain to teach dancing and cooking to
keep the wolf from the door; and we
are supposed to owe something Of our
saltatory grace, besides the way to
mix salad and fold an omelette, to
''the red fool-f,ry of the Seine" which
cut off the hesds of king and queen
only to bow the knee to consul and
emperor. Not that fans, and very
beautiful ones, were unknown in Eng
land before Vatican and Lancret,
Pater, Lemoine, Fragonard, Boucher,
Gravelot, Gilot, or Moreau the young
ermade the French school illustrious.
Shakspear, Ben johnson, Hall, Mas
singer, Gay. and Addison are in evi.
dence to the contrary.
Among the gifts presented to Queen
Elizabeth on her accession was fan
,tnss ,off
knife" the offering, by the way, OF
the court cutler. Shakespeare con-
stantly introduced the fan which gives
occasion for some most laughable
comic business i'll one of the lighter
scenes of Romeo and Juliet What
middle-aged play goer does not re.
member Mrs. Stirling as the Nurse tc
the Peter of Mr.. Blackstone, in the
cast, when Adelaide Nelson was the
brightest and most fascinating of Ju
lets? Who was Mrs. Bridget, the
lady who lost the handle of her tan in
1.-The Merry Wives of Windsor?' The
bard suggests that the article fetched
half q crown, and that Ancient Pisto
had 10 pence of the plumber. Could
Mrs. Bridget, mentioned only by
name, and only once, have been any
relative of the French gentleman
whom Hamlet beat at the tolls prior
to the return of Laertes in rebellion tt
the court OF Denmark-a!so referred
to by name, yet never seen? Silver
e" handled fans were the rage wher
Shakespeare was young man. Der
Jonson speaks of the "lesst feather
of q lady's ''beauteous FAM" and Mas.
singer, in The Bondman, has
''Ravish feather from u mistress
fan and wear it as u. favor" With
very few exceptions, the early En-
glish fans were more or less like the
1ly-fappers of the east. where all the
decorative arts had their cradle. Ac,
cording to Blondel and Octave Uzanne
among the best authorities on the sub
ject, the origin of the fan is lost in the
mists of the past. 1t often crops ur
in ancient Buddhist. literature as al
Old-fashioned article of daily use, and
was known in China when our ances.
tors for their only garment wore 3
coat of paint. Both in China and ia
pan the fan has always been employ
ed us an instrument Of command.
famous general used to direct three
army corps at one and the same time
with the motions Of his fan-a piece
of information suggestive of the ligh
cane which, instead Of a sword, oul
Chinese Gordon, the hero and thu
victim OF Khartoum, was accustomed
to carry into action. Among the Co
7estials the fan is utilized as a stand
ard and rallying point in battle, ane
serves the military mandarin in place
of that most famous oritamme, tn
/. helmet of Navarro. Only month O.
so ago, at the burned down japanese
exhibition at Humphreys hall tn,
stage manager directed the move
ments Of the wrestlers and the jug