Art Institute of Chicago

Fortune

Simone Cantarini

Date: 1632/48
Medium: Etching on cream laid paper
Culture: Italy
Department: Prints and Drawings
Institution: Art Institute of Chicago

Fortune, the goddess of chance and luck, accidentally spills her coin purse out into the heavens, an act that symbolizes the goddess’s arbitrary nature. A winged putto alerts Fortune to this act of blind fate by pulling her hair back from her eyes. Cantarini likely completed this print while under the tutelage in Mantua of his mentor, Guido Reni (Italian, 1575–1642). Reni was widely known for his painting of Fortune, and several etchings, including this one, were made after its likeness. But the two artists later grew estranged. Cantarini’s squabbles continued; he later assaulted a Mantuan painter, who may have retaliated by poisoning him.

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