The Fortune of France 1633 - 1643

Abraham Bosse made this print called "The Fortune of France." We can assume it was made sometime in the mid-17th century. It tells us a lot about the anxieties around governance and power at the time. In the print, we see an allegorical figure of Fortune, a naked woman in the sky. Below, we see the supposed beneficiaries of this fortune as a motley crew of figures. To the left stand wealthy and powerful figures, including an equestrian. To the right are the clergy, military men, and commoners. What is telling is that Fortune is looking down on all of these figures. Bosse seems to suggest that all strata of French society depend on the whims of a fickle, irrational figure. This would have been an idea shared by people of many different political persuasions. To learn more, we could study the history of political institutions in France, as well as the popular beliefs around religion and magic at the time.