Imperial Princess D. Januária de Bragança folding fan

A double-leaf pleated fan (double-entente) crafted from paper and silk, featuring a polychrome gouache painting with a landscape of Rio de Janeiro, overlooking the bay and Corcovado with a special focus on Morro and Igreja da Glória and, on the reverse the JL monogram and the Brazilian imperial crown from the Second Empire.

Frame with 18 sticks in filigreed mother-of-pearl with gold applications, with floral and plant motifs and a rivet topped with two pearls. The guards, also in mother-of-pearl, are finely decorated with flowers and pearls.

The painter's autograph signature, "Ad. D'Hastrel," is visible on the right side, in the background. The signature marks the work of Étiene Adolphe de Hastrel de Rivedoux (b. Newiller-lès-Saverne, Alsace, Oct. 4, 1805, d. Paris, July 1, 1874), a renowned French artist.

Adolphe d’Hastrel, painter, watercolourist, lithographer, and musician, was an artillery officer in the French navy, allowing him to embark on journeys to diverse locations in the Mediterranean, North Africa, and South America.

In the years 1840/41, he made a significant sojourn in Rio de Janeiro, where he frequented the imperial court’s circle. He formed a close connection with the Prince of Joinville, D. Francisco de Orleães, husband of Princess D. Francisca de Bragança[1], Imperial Highness of Brazil, Infanta of Portugal and Royal Princess of France, daughter of D. Pedro I and D. Leopoldina of Austria, emperors of Brazil, with whom he maintained contact in Paris, during their exile.

He drew landscapes of the city's most iconic places, highlighting the bay, the port, Corcovado, Morro, Igreja da Glória and, Santa Teresa, among others.

His views of various cities (Les Sables-d'Olonne and La Rochelle, Île Bourbon, the French colony of Senegal, Argentina and Mar del Plata, the Philippines, and Rio de Janeiro, for example), lithographs and watercolours are reproduced and referenced in Art History books and specialized dictionaries.

Among the albums published in France and England, around 1847 or 1848, he published the very rare, Rio de Janeiro ou Souvenirs du Brésil, dessinés d'aprés nature et dediés a S.A.R. Madame la princeses de Joinville par Adolph d'Hastrel, Paris[2], comprised of ten numbered lithographs and a fold-out panorama of the city, of great iconographic insight.

The scenery depicted on the fan does not align with any featured in the previously mentioned album, nor is any lithograph of it known. Hence, it is presumed to be an unpublished view of Rio de Janeiro in the 1840s, during Hastrel's residence in the city, and coinciding with the completion of the artwork dedicated to D. Januária de Bragança. It is, therefore, a unique image of considerable symbolic and iconographic significance.

On the fan guards, the artist also depicts a detail of a white dove with outstretched wings, a quiver holding arrows, a tambourine, and a musical score, all enveloped by olive branches and palms. It is a distinct symbol of Athena's ideals, the triumph of justice over warfare and the paramount virtue of peace. It seems to draw a connection to the Italian unification, alluding to the conquest and annexation of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from the Royal House of Bourbons. Princess Januária and D. Francisco sought exile in Paris, then.

The date of these events is expressed on the fan, in the left quadrant: 1861, which underscores the importance of the artistic object beyond its role as a bearer of aesthetic elegance tied to costume and social decorum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the reverse, the silk leaf is adorned with botanical motifs, portraying olive leaves and olives, topped by the imperial crown of Brazil (Second Empire) and the monogram "JL." This is the sign of belonging of D. Januária de Bragança[3], the imperial princess of Brazil and heir to the throne, during the period of her Brother Pedro II's minority between 1835 and 1845.

The letter J corresponds to Januária, and the letter L represents her husband, D. Luís Carlos de Bourbon-Two Sicilies, the Count of Áquila and Royal Prince of the Two Sicilies.

The “Princess of Independence”, as she was referred to, having been born in Rio de Janeiro in 1822, the year of Brazil's independence, was the daughter of D. Pedro I, the first emperor of Brazil and his wife, D. Leopoldina da Austria, and sister to D. Maria da Glória, queen of Portugal.

From October 30, 1835, to February 23, 1845, she held the title of imperial princess of Brazil and served as the presumptive heir to the throne until the birth of her Brother Pedro's son, the second emperor of Brazil. Due to complex political circumstances, the couple had to settle in Europe, between Naples, Paris and London, refraining from returning to Brazilian soil. The siblings and their consorts, would only reunite thirty years later during a visit to Queen Victoria of England.

Due to its formal, iconographic and symbolic characteristics, the fan stands as an object of immense historical and heritage significance