Template:POTD/2018-11-26

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Allegory of Fortune
Allegory of Fortune, sometimes also named La Fortuna, is a 1658 or 1659 oil painting by the Italian baroque painter Salvator Rosa. It depicts Fortuna, the goddess of fortune, pouring her gifts on an array of undeserving animals. It breaks with traditional Fortuna depictions in portraying her with eyes uncovered, aware of the recipients of the gifts, rather than with her eyes covered. Painted at the same time as Rosa's essay Babilonia, a satirical condemnation of the papal court, Allegory of Fortune was interpreted initially as an attack on Pope Alexander VII's patronage, with the hogs seen as representing churchmen. He was threatened with imprisonment and excommunicated until being saved by an intervention from the pope's brother, Don Marco Chigi.Painting: Salvator Rosa