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
Print
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Did You Know?

Many works by William Morris Hunt were destroyed by the Great Boston Fire of 1872.

Description

Winged Fortune is a study for a figure in The Discoverer, a mural that William Morris Hunt painted for the Assembly Chamber in New York's State Capitol in Albany. The mural presents Christopher Columbus in a boat; Winged Fortune stands behind him, her left hand holding the rudder while her right hand spreads the sail. Over time the murals badly deteriorated. Eventually, a new ceiling was added to the chamber, concealing them entirely, even to the present day.
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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