The Little Fortune
1497
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
About the artist
Artist
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer spent his life in Nuremberg, a busy German city where artists traded prints like currency.
See the richer artist page1497
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
The Little Fortune is a 1497 by Albrecht Dürer, a Renaissance work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
Albrecht Dürer’s engraving shows Fortuna, the goddess of chance, balancing on a ball. She holds a sprig of flowers in her left hand. The ball stands for the random world she rules over. The flowers aren’t just decoration. They could be Eryngium, linked to love’s fleeting power. Or they might be Sternkraut, meaning fate is already set. Either way, the image hints that luck and love aren’t things we control. Look up the artist Albrecht Dürer next.
With the help of a staff, Fortuna, the goddess of fortune or chance, balances on a sphere and holds a sprig of flowers in her left hand. In addition to representing her instability, the sphere suggests the worldly domain over which she influences at random. The flowers, traditionally identified as Eryngium, held aphrodisiac powers, suggesting the fickle nature of love. A more recent interpretation identifies them as Sternkraut, a plant that symbolized the idea that one’s fate has already been written. Both readings of the engraving, whether it regards love or life, inform the viewer that…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Albrecht Dürer spent his life in Nuremberg, a busy German city where artists traded prints like currency.
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