The Truly Fortunate: ‘Allegory of Fortune’

“Allegory of Fortune,” circa 1530, by Dosso Dossi. Oil on Canvas, 71 3/8 x 76 3/4 inches. Getty Center, Los Angeles. Public Domain

Despite our best intentions, we may fall short of our expectations. We save money only to have a financial emergency overwhelm us, or we are diagnosed with a serious illness despite eating a healthful diet and exercising. In so many ways, we have little control over our fortunes.

“Allegory of Fortune,” circa 1530, by Dosso Dossi. Oil on Canvas, 71 3/8 x 76 3/4 inches. Getty Center, Los Angeles. Public Domain

People have long thought that gods or God determine our fates. Some seem blessed by God with great fortune. The blessed seemed to be going along for the ride, hopefully learning about themselves and God as they followed their unfolding path. Yet great fortune should be looked at dialectically, for what is once a blessing can become a curse if we are not properly oriented to it.

Allegory of Fortune

Around 1530, Dosso Dossi, an Italian Renaissance artist, painted the “Allegory of Fortune.” The personification of Fortune is on the right. She presents a cornucopia, symbolizing an abundance of wealth and pleasure. The horn-shaped basket winds below and takes our eyes to the bubble supporting her; it’s a bubble that seems like it will pop at any moment.

Her ephemeral support brings attention to her feet. She wears a shoe on only one foot, suggesting that Fortune can both give and take away and that what is here today can be gone tomorrow. It could also suggest that the comforts that Fortune provides are not as complete as they might initially appear.

A detail of the “Allegory of Fortune,” circa 1530, by Dosso Dossi. Oil on Canvas, 71 3/8 x 76 3/4 inches. Getty Center, Los Angeles. Public Domain

The billowing yellow drapery at the top right of the composition reinforces the theme that the bubble and missing shoe provide. The drapery seems carried by an invisible wind—a wind representing the ever-changing nature of Fortune.

On the left is the personification of Chance. He looks directly at Fortune while he holds a bunch of lottery tickets. He will soon drop them into an urn from which a winner will be chosen.

Dossi’s painting alludes to the public lotteries of his time, which were described as events as popular as religious celebrations. Yet this painting’s connection to fortune doesn’t stop there. In the 1980s, a person found it in a flea market and bought it for $1,000. The fortunate treasure hunter took it to New York to be appraised. There, Christie’s determined it to be an authentic Renaissance masterwork and worth more than $4 million; Chance drew a name, and Fortune bestowed her gifts.

The Truly Fortunate

Many of us hope to strike it rich, become famous, or acquire whatever else we think will make our lives pleasurable and exciting. Yet these things don’t last forever. It’s often not long before the bubble bursts and we are left seeing the illusion for what it really is. We come into this world with nothing, and we leave with nothing.

Is fortune such a fickle thing? Dossi’s painting suggests that it is. If fortune is granted by God, if it is part of our fate, how could it be so fickle? Returning to a statement made at the beginning of this article: What matters is how we orient ourselves to our fortunes. Fortune can become problematic if we base our self-worth on it instead of on our relationship with God.

With this in mind, there are two types of fortune: material and spiritual. Material fortune is how Dossi has painted it: ephemeral and fickle, here and then gone. However, we can presume that spiritual fortune grows as one’s relationship with God grows.

Are the truly fortunate those who focus on God despite how their material world changes?

Have you ever seen a work of art and thought it was beautiful but had no idea what it meant? In our series “Reaching Within: What Traditional Art Offers the Heart,” we interpret the classical visual arts in ways that may be morally insightful for us today. We try to approach each work of art to see how our historical creations might inspire within us our own innate goodness.

Eric Bess, PhD., is a fine artist, a writer on art-related topics, and an assistant professor at Fei Tian College in Middletown, New York.