Lady with a Fan

The Lady with a Fan is an enigmatic portrait. Although most of Velázquez’s portraits are easily recognizable likenesses of the members of the Spanish royal family, their courtiers and court servants, the sitter in Lady with a Fan has not yet been convincingly identified. There is a distinct lack of accurate documentation for this portrait. The details of the costume suggest that the sitter could be Marie de Rohan, the duchess of Chevreuse (1600–1679). This is because, in the painting, the subject is dressed according to French fashion of the late 1630s. A letter dated January 16, 1638, stated that he once portrayed the exiled duchess of Chevreuse, who was then living in Madrid under the protection of Philip IV. This after having escaped from France disguised as a man. Some experts argued that no resemblance could be discerned with other portraits of the duchess, and it was suspected that the costumed woman in the painting, was actually a Spanish tapada, which was a precursor to the majas of the 18th century.