The Wisconsin Historical Museum

A granddaughter of brewery founder Frederick Pabst, Lorraine MacDermott (1893-1977) used this exquisite fan while she lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She may have bought it from a Chicago shop selling Duvelleroy fans. The firm of Duvelleroy, known for its exceptional fan painting, had begun making fans in 1827, and by the late nineteenth century had an extensive international export business in North and South America.

Many Duvelleroy fans echoed those made in the eighteenth century, when love and lovers were popular themes for fans. Lorraine's fan depicts lovers looking at a statue of the Greek love goddess, Aphrodite. The love theme is reinforced with Cupid's quiver of arrows shown on either side, with one arrow placed strategically in the bull's eye.