The interesting fan representing the capture of the Balearic Islands by the Spaniards in 1759 may be taken as of Spanish workmanship. The subject is taken from a painting in the Escurial. The stick is ivory, carved à jour with three cartouches, painted and gilt; in the centre appear figures of commanders on horseback, a march of troops on the one side and warships on the other; the background ‘gold-fish’ inlay. The paper mount is painted in gouache; and on the reverse is a view of a fort. The style of the painting presents similar characteristics to a fan mount in the Schreiber collection, British Museum, in which we are introduced to a ‘Carrousel at Madrid,’ with a large square filled with spectators appearing at the windows of the houses; in the centre of the background is a pavilion with the king and suite, inscribed Carlos III., and a performance of a number of horsemen led by the ‘Duque de Médinacéli,’ the ‘Marques de Tabara,’ and the ‘Marques de Aztorga.’ The leaf, which has been removed from the stick, is of paper, painted in gouache. A fan of this subject appeared in the exhibition of fans at South Kensington in 1870, in the possession of Madame Charles Heine of Paris; the stick of tortoise-shell, carved and gilt.
This same king, who succeeded to the Spanish throne in 1759, figures as the subject of two fan designs in the Schreiber collection, the one representing his triumphal entry into Naples in 1734 on his election to the crown of the Two Sicilies, with the subject inscribed in Spanish; the leaf signed ‘Fo La Vega Hisp. Let. D.’; below the picture, ‘Miñado por Cayetano Pichini Romano.’ The other, a companion fan design, represents the sham-fight and siege of Gaeta in 1734 on the occasion referred to above; a canopy bears the arms of Spain, and on either side a trophy with the arms of Medicis and Farnese; the subject inscribed in Spanish: ‘Foo La Vega Hispas Bilbilitanus Inv e Delineavit Roma’ and ‘Minado Por Leonardo Egiarmon Flamenco.’ Both these fan designs are vigorously drawn with pen in bistre and worked with India ink, the style betraying a strong late Italian influence.
One of the first acts of Charles, upon his accession to the throne, was to enter into a treaty with Louis XV. known as the ‘Pacte de famille,’ by which these two kings of the house of Bourbon united themselves into an offensive and defensive alliance. By the terms of this treaty, signed 15th August 1761, Spain was obliged to take part in the war in which France and England were then engaged, France hoping to avail herself of the maritime power of Spain, and to prevent Portugal from declaring common cause with England. Its only effect, however, was to inflict upon her ally a series of disasters similar to her own, Spain losing Cuba, Manilla, and the Philippine Islands, and France Martinique, besides being finally expelled from Canada, thus completing the work begun by Wolfe at Quebec some two years previously.
The sequel to these events was the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the preliminaries of peace being signed at Fontainebleau on the 3rd November of the previous year.
By the terms of this instrument, Canada, the islands of Minorca, Grenada and the Grenadines, St. Vincent, Dominica and Tobago were ceded to Britain, while to France were restored Belleisle on the French coast, the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon near Newfoundland, Martinique, Guadaloupe, Marigalante, Desirade, and St. Lucia in the West Indies. Havannah was restored to Spain, the Spaniards in return ceding Florida to the English, and agreeing also to make peace with Portugal.
| The betrothal of Louis XVI. & Marie Antoinette, Spanish, skin mount, tortoiseshell stick, gold & silver incrustations. | Mrs Frank W. Gibson (Eugènie Joachim) |
In La Revue Hispanique, tome viii., appeared an article by M. Gabriel Marcel, reprinted in pamphlet form under the title of ‘Un Éventail Historique du dix-huitième siècle, Paris, 1901,’ describing and illustrating a remarkable fan in the cabinet of a Parisian amateur whose name is not given, commemorating the event above referred to.
The stick is ivory, carved with an agreeable pell-mell of cartouches, gilt; the centre being occupied by a conversation galante of four figures in the costume of the Watteau period.