Fortune

La Farge employed soft, diffused contours and muted tonal gradations to obscure the figure’s facial details, creating an ethereal, almost dreamlike presence. This approach echoes the atmospheric ambiguity found in French Symbolist works, particularly those of Odilon Redon, where emotional resonance supersedes literal representation.

The drawing was made as part of a commission for Henry Clay Frick’s Pittsburgh office, intended for integration into a stained glass window. Though the final window was never executed, the preparatory study survived, offering insight into La Farge’s creative process and his interest in translating painterly effects into glass.

At the turn of the century, American artists increasingly engaged with European Symbolist aesthetics, moving away from strict realism toward evocative, psychological imagery. La Farge’s treatment of Fortune reflects this broader shift, aligning his work with contemporaries who sought to convey inner states through suggestive form and light.

Though the stained glass window was never realized, this drawing remains a significant example of La Farge’s late work, illustrating his experimentation with abstraction and mood. It stands as a bridge between American decorative arts and the emerging modernist interest in ambiguity and symbolic expression.