Art Institute of Chicago
The Fates Gathering in the Stars
Elihu Vedder (American, 1836–1923)LinkedCulture matchlcp-f7dbc2f9357d
- Date
- 1887
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Culture
- United States
- Department
- Arts of the Americas
- Institution
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Object ID
- 74967
From the Art Institute of Chicago record
Elihu Vedder depicted the three Fates of Greek mythology working the thread of life: Clotho spins the thread, Lachesis fixes its length, and Atropos cuts it at the appointed time of death. Their symbolic tools—spindle, distaff, and shears—rest in the foreground, emphasizing the Fates’ decisive role in matters of life and death. Vedder adapted this painting from an illustration he had designed for an 1884 publication by Edward FitzGerald—a translation of the work of 11th-century poet Omar Khayyám, The Rubáiyát . Vedder was attracted to mysterious, visionary subject matter. Here, he explored metaphysical questions of life, death, and afterlife, subjects at the core of Khayyám’s poetry.
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Provenance & credit
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- Credit line
- Friends of American Art Collection
- Provenance
- Henry Melville Whitney, Brookline, MA, 1887; American Art Association, New York, 1917; George H. Ainslie, New York, 1917. Montross Gallery, New York, by 1919; sold by them to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1919.
Linked open data
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- Object type
- AAT300033618
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