The Teller

The Teller

Fortune-telling became increasingly popular in the 19th century. These two paintings show how cartomancy, that is, fortune-telling by deck of playing cards, was both a business opportunity or form of peddling as well as an increasingly fashionable parlor-room distraction or form of entertainment. In Ernst Hanfstaengl’s “The Teller” (1871), a middle-class woman appears to be visiting a fortune-teller, presumably at her home and place of work. The older woman, seated here, reads and appears to be explaining the cards and the fortune to her client. The humble setting and rather ragged furnishings seem to indicate that although she might not be a gypsy, the elderly woman is of a peddling class. Fortune-telling was a policed activity since the Vagrancy Act of 1824; this scene’s indoor setting and shadowy frame suggests the furtive nature of this vended activity come 1871.

Hanfstaengl, Ernst

Private Collection

1871

Painting