Artwork Page for Winged Fortune

Details / Information for Winged Fortune

Winged Fortune

1878

William Morris Hunt

(American, 1824–1879)
Culture
America
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
Unframed: 252 x 159.5 cm (99 3/16 x 62 13/16 in.)
Credit Line
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1970.54
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Description

This painting is a full-size study for one of the figures in The Discoverer, a mural that William Morris Hunt painted on the vaulted roof of the Assembly Chamber at New York's state capitol in Albany. The mural showed Christopher Columbus standing boldly in a boat facing west. Winged Fortune stood behind him, her left hand holding the rudder as her right hand spread the sail. Hope sat in the bow, Science held a navigational chart, and Faith, covering her eyes, swam blindly ahead. Hunt only had two months to paint the murals, making many preparatory studies like this one. Not long after Hunt's death, massive leakage and cracking began to destroy the murals, which he had painted directly onto the wall. Eventually, a new ceiling was added to the chamber, concealing the murals completely.
A vertical oil painting depicts a nude woman with light skin tone from the thighs up, gazing toward our right. She has dark brown hair swept back. Her arm to our left reaches up toward a feathery wing tinged with red arching over her head, while a second wing extends downward to our right. She grasps dark stalks in her hand. Pink and blue brushstrokes drape her lower body against a muted blue-green background.

Winged Fortune

1878

William Morris Hunt

(American, 1824–1879)
America

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