The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 20, 2025
Aeneas in the Underworld, Design for a Fan
after 1730
follower of François Boucher
Sheet: 27.2 x 54.8 cm (10 11/16 x 21 9/16 in.); Secondary Support: 35.2 x 64.7 cm (13 7/8 x 25 1/2 in.); Tertiary Support: 35.2 x 64.7 cm (13 7/8 x 25 1/2 in.)
Gift of Mrs. Otto Miller 1941.547
Location: Not on view
Did You Know?
The 1700s is often considered to be a golden age of fan design.Description
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 through the underworld where he faces harrowing challenges and converses with the dead before emerging newly enlightened and victorious.- ?–1941Mrs. Otto Miller, Cleveland Heights, OH, given to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OHDecember 5, 1941–The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Imagination in the Age of Reason. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 28, 2024-March 2, 2025).Fans: East and West. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 15, 1992-March 7, 1993).
- {{cite web|title=Aeneas in the Underworld, Design for a Fan|url=false|author=François Boucher|year=after 1730|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1941.547