The Andalusian Fates

José Villegas y Cordero was born in Seville in the Andalusian region of Spain in 1848. Villegas sold his first painting at the age of twelve and with time became one of Spain's most highly decorated and collected artists. A pupil of José Maria Romero, Villegas went on to study at the School of Fine Arts in Seville and later, in the studio of Madrazo in Madrid. His earliest mature paintings were of Orientalist subjects that drew their inspiration from both the work of Fortuny and a trip to Morocco that Villegas had taken in 1867. Italy was to be Villegas's early artistic home, and the artist lived in Rome and Venice from 1868 to 1901, when he returned to Spain to assume the position of Director of the Prado Museum. During the first years of his stay in Madrid he became recognized as a leader in the social and intellectual life of the capital and Spanish subject matter, like that of the present work, began to appear in his oeuvre with increasing frequency.

The present work depicts three vibrantly dressed young women in the guise of the three fates – Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos – who spin, measure, and cut the strands of fate which represent human life in Greek Mythology. The three figures gaze directly out of the picture plane, their sight lines directed toward the viewer. This knowing returned gaze from the three fates is among the most striking aspects of the work – the three women seem to be sizing up the fate of the viewer, the figures in red and blue leaning conspiratorially toward one another as if discussing what they know that we cannot. Originally, the composition depicted the women standing on a balcony overlooking Seville, however the artist’s change to the more ambiguous floral setting makes the subject matter more generalized in nature but by extension more personally resonant to each viewer’s experience of the work. Villegas reworked the background of the composition at least twice and made some minor changes within the figures as well.