FORTUNA

Details

AFTER GIAMBOLOGNA, ITALIAN, LATE 18TH OR EARLY 19TH CENTURY
FORTUNA
Bronze figure holding aloft an arc of drapery; on a cylindrical red marble and bronze base
21 7/8 in. (55.5 cm.) high; 29 in. (73.7 cm.) high, overall

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Lot Essay

The model of Fortuna was attributed to Giambologna in 1973 by Watson and Avery ('Medici and Stuart: a Grand Ducal Gift of "Giovanni Bologna" Bronzes for Henry Prince of Wales', in Burlington Magazine, CXV, 1973, pp. 493-507), who brought to light documents which confirmed that Giambologna had designed a nude female figure of Fortune holding a sail. They concluded that Fortune may have been intended as a pendant to the sculptor's Mercury, as the two poses mirror each other and find a conceptual precedent in one of Andrea Alciati's Emblemata, where the two symbolise the contrast between industriousness and blind faith.

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