Sketch of Fortuna

This pen sketch by American artist Francis Augustus Lathrop depicts Fortuna, the classical Roman goddess of luck and fate, rendered in dynamic gestural lines. The figure floats airborne, draped in flowing fabric, holding a staff or scepter, embodying the allegorical tradition of personified abstract concepts. Lathrop's energetic line work—evident in the rapid hatching and spontaneous contours—captures movement and psychological intensity rather than anatomical precision. Created during the height of the American Illustrative tradition, this drawing demonstrates the expressive potential of ink on paper as both finished work and preliminary study, bridging fine art practice with commercial illustration that would define the emerging visual culture of the early twentieth century.