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Allegory of Fortune

Technical Details
  • Title
    Allegory of Fortune
  • Author
    Lorenzo Leombruno
  • Year
    c. 1523
  • Dimensions
    cm 76 x 100
  • Inventory
    2126
  • Room
    XXI

This work was painted when the artist, still the court painter in Mantua, was heavily influenced by Mantegna. It is based on the second century writer Lucian’s description of an earlier work depicting Calumny by the Greek painter Apelles. The complex allegory is imbued with pessimism: the figure of Fortune, seated on a raised platform, dispenses money, sceptres and crowns (symbolising worldly success) to personifications of negative values while hurling instruments of torture and captivity.

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