Attributed to Adam Fuchs Active Nuremberg 1550 - 1580

The attribution to Adam Fuchs has been made on the basis of the monogram AF, which is identified by Nagler (no. 520).  He is, however, cautious in his description of the artist, noting that there were two periods in which the monogram seems to have been used: 1550-1580 and 1600-1620.  Nagler therefore suggests that there may in fact have been two artists of this name active in Nuremberg: an earlier artist who mainly painted decorative and mythological subjects, and a later one who specialised in religious paintings.  Considering the subject of our drawing, we can speculate that the author is the earlier of the two.  For further information, see G.K. Nagler, Die Monogrammisten, Munich 1919, vol. 1, pp. 266-7.

In Greek and Roman mythology, the Three Fates were believed to determine man's destiny.  Our drawings of two of the spirits follow their conventional portrayal as old or ugly women: Clotho spinning the thread, symbolising the twists and turns of man's life, and Atropos, leaning forwards, shears in hand ready to cut the thread short wherever she chooses.