Study of Drapery of "Fortune"
Medium
figures
Classification
figures
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Gift of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
Accession Number
1955-38-63
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
Elihu Vedder’s “Study of Drapery of ‘Fortune’” offers a revealing glimpse into the working process of one of America’s most imaginative late-nineteenth-century artists. Born in 1836 and active for much of his career in Italy, Vedder blended Symbolist ideas with classical motifs, often personifying abstract concepts such as fate, time, and destiny. This preparatory work, dated around 1899, concentrates on the flowing fabric that would clothe his figure of Fortune, demonstrating how carefully he considered every fold to convey both movement and symbolic weight. Drapery studies like this one were essential tools for artists trained in the academic tradition. By isolating the cloth, Vedder could explore how light and shadow animate the form, giving the finished figure a sense of lifelike presence and emotional resonance. The piece now resides in the Smithsonian American Art Museum as a gift of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, preserving an intimate record of Vedder’s meticulous approach to allegory and design.