ABSTRACT
In the early modern period, the image of fortune produced by Albrecht Durer proved particularly prominent and became a source of inspiration for various German artists. As Durer’s Nemesis, Beham’s Fortuna has the bridle, the symbol of temperance, and a fragment of drapery, which actually does not cover any part of her body. The figure of a genius played a significant role in two poems, Landsknechtspiegel and Der Tod zuckt das Stullein, both written by Hans Sachs, a Nuremberg Meistersinger, known for his cooperation with the Beham brothers. The fact that Beham’s personifications of Fortune and Misfortune are dressed is a distinctive feature of both images, which is reflective of medieval imagery rather than Beham’s contemporary style. Nudity, which was introduced by Durer’s Nemesis, is a typical attribute of the majority of the sixteenth-century personifications of good and bad luck.
