Found at a flea market and purchased for a modest sum by an anonymous buyer, the unwrapped, seven-foot Allegory of Fortune was strapped to the roof of a car and brought to Christie's auction house in New York City. There experts recognized it as an important, long-lost allegorical scene by the Ferrarese master Dosso Dossi.

The woman in this work represents Fortune. She holds a horn of plenty, flaunting the bounty she could bring, but sits on a bubble because her favors are fleeting. The man, Chance, looks longingly toward Fortune as he deposits lottery tickets in an urn -- a reference to the civic lotteries in Italy. This painting was probably made for Isabella d'Este, marchioness of Mantua, one of whose emblems was a bundle of lots, denoting her experience with fluctuating fortune.

I also like that she's missing one of her shoes. Stupid Fortune.

In the other photos: sculpture of Mars and Venus (Hans Mont, c. 1575), an illuminated manuscript, and a ceiling painting called Musical Group on a Balcony by Gerrit van Honthorst.

––– Photos taken on 10/23/10 at The Getty Center in Los Angeles, CA –––