Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00011320About the Artwork
When commissioned in 1901 to make a stained glass window for the Frick office building in Pittsburgh, John La Farge produced this strange design of Fortune balancing precariously on a wheel—an emblem of the fickleness of fortune. The hazy, mysterious handling of the face of the central figure recalls contemporary French Symbolist painters such as Odilon Redon (1840–1916).
Inscriptions
signed, lower right, in graphite: JLF. [illeglible]; signed, lower lef, in graphite: A [?] B[illegible]
Provenance
?-1950: William G. Mather [1857-1951], Bratenahl, OH October 10, 1950: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 3, 1958-October 11, 1959). The Lessons of the Academy. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 8-May 29, 1983). America Draws. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1984-March 17, 1985). American Drawings from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 19-July 12, 1998).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- John La Farge (American, 1835–1910)
- Date
- 1901
- Medium
- graphite
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 27.7 x 20 cm (10 7/8 x 7 7/8 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Gift of William G. Mather
- Accession no.
- 1950.316
More by John La Farge in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00011320
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