The earliest engraved fans take the form of the hand-screens in general use in Italy and elsewhere at this period. Of these, the engraving known as ‘l’éventail de Callot,’ much sought after by iconophilists, was produced in the year 1619, and is one of the most esteemed plates of the master. The subject is a fête or carnival on the Arno, given at Florence on the 25th of July of that year by the Corporations of Weavers and Dyers, the whole subject being enclosed in a characteristic cartouche, on the lower portion of which the name ‘Jacomo Callot fec.’ appears.
| Engraved design for Feather Fan, by Agostino Caracci. Hand Screen, by C.F. Hörman. | Schreiber Colln. British Museum. |
Two states of this engraving are known. The first, before the inscription on the ribbon and the name on the cartouche, being extremely rare.[131]
Callot has been credited with a second fan, which also takes the form of a cartouche of similar shape to the first mentioned. The subject is a dance in a garden—six persons are seen dancing a minuet before an assembled company. This engraving, however, is rightly ascribed by the best authorities to Stefano della Bella.
This subject was imitated and amplified by Nicolas Cochin the elder, the composition rearranged, a larger number of figures introduced, with a different and more elaborate background, the cartouche being similar.
Cochin also produced a subject of the Triumph of David, who is represented on horseback, sword in hand, with the head of Goliath, the cartouche copied from Callot, inscribed ‘Balthasar Montcornet, ex Cum privilegio a paris.’
Another of these engraved hand-screens consists of a frame composed of two large eagles, with the arms of Austria and Medicis, enclosing a view of the Villa Reale near Florence, freely etched in the manner of Israel Silvestre.
A set of four hand-screens was engraved by Christopher Fredr. Hörman; prints of Nos. 3 and 4 appear in the British Museum collection. No. 3 is included in Lady Charlotte Schreiber’s book, No. 4 being reproduced here. The subjects are ballet dancers in fantastic costume, accompanied by, in each instance, a figure playing a musical instrument.