La Fortuna
$ 110.00
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(2012) Equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche, Fortuna was the goddess of fortune and personified chance in the Roman religion. She can be represented as veiled and blind, as in depictions of Justice and came to represent life's unpredictability. She was also a goddess of fate.
In Lacon or Many Things in Few Words, addressed to those who think, Charles Caleb Colton writes, "Fortune has been considered the guardian divinity of fools; and, on this score, she has been accused of blindness; but it should rather be adduced as a proof of her sagacity, when she helps those who cannot help themselves. We make a goddess of Fortune ... and place her in the highest heaven. But it is not fortune that is exalted and powerful, but we ourselves that are abject and weak."
Created in the confines of a muted color palette, this very detailed piece offers a set of intriguing characters.
“As a rock on the seashore he standeth firm, and the dashing of the waves disturbeth him not. He raiseth his head like a tower on a hill, and the arrows of fortune drop at his feet. In the instant of danger, the courage of his heart sustaineth him; and the steadiness of his mind beareth him out.” -- Akhenaton (King of Egypt, 14th century BC)
“Fortune may raise up or abuse the ordinary mortal, but the sage and the soldier should have minds beyond her control.” –- Sir Walter Scott, Tale of the Crusaders
