Fortune

Object belonging

One's own

Category

Wood sculpture

City

Rome

Location

Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia

Specific location

Study room, cabinet, shelf 1, section D

Inventory

s.n.

Material and technique

Sculpted wood, gilding

Author

French School

Dating

c.1900-1925

Dimensions

27 x 14 x 6 cm.

Origin

NR

Image copyright

SSPSAE e per il Polo Museale della città di Roma

Short description

Nothing is know of the provenance of this work, which forms a pair with its mirror image (NCTN: 12/00861961) that is missing the marble and metal base on which this work rests. A nude woman is depicted, with a drape swirling around her waist and held in one hand, with the other hand raised to hold something which is now missing, perhaps a ship’s sail or rudder, by which she is driven on, according to the usual iconography of Fortune, derived from the goddess Tyche. Her hair seems blown by the wind and has a strange quiff on top of the head; this detail makes her look like the Greek Kairos or the Latin Occasio, goddesses of opportune moments. It is a simple and primitive image, entirely gilded so as to simulate a metallic sculpture; its original purpose is not known (though was perhaps a decorative ornament), but it was probably produced in France in the first quarter of the 20th century. It is similar in size, style and technique to the statuette of Atlas, also held at Palazzo Venezia.

Grazia Maria Fachechi 

Bibliography

Unpublished