Fortune Does Not Watch over All Sleepers from Six Sayings about Fortune
ca. 1560
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Plate: 8 1/8 × 9 3/4 in. (20.6 × 24.8 cm) Sheet: 10 7/8 × 12 3/8 in. (27.6 × 31.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Barbara and Howard Fox and Dr. and Mrs. Arthur Elkind Gifts, 2013
Accession Number
2013.118.1
Tags
Art Historical Context
This engraving by Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert, created around 1560, forms part of the series *Six Sayings about Fortune*. The work captures a timeless moral theme through its depiction of a goddess—likely Fortuna—alongside sleeping men and boats, suggesting that fortune does not extend protection to everyone who rests or remains inactive. Coornhert, a Dutch Renaissance figure, used this imagery to explore human vulnerability and the unpredictable nature of fate in a visually compelling way. As an engraving, the medium allowed Coornhert to create fine, detailed lines that could be reproduced an...