AFTER GIAMBOLOGNA, ITALIAN, LATE 18TH OR EARLY 19TH CENTURY

The model of Fortuna was attributed to Giambologna in 1973 by Watson and Avery ('Medici and Stuart: a Grand Ducal Gift of "Giovanni Bologna" Bronzes for Henry Prince of Wales', in Burlington Magazine, CXV, 1973, pp. 493-507), who brought to light documents which confirmed that Giambologna had designed a nude female figure of Fortune holding a sail. They concluded that Fortune may have been intended as a pendant to the sculptor's Mercury, as the two poses mirror each other and find a conceptual precedent in one of Andrea Alciati's Emblemata, where the two symbolise the contrast between industriousness and blind faith.