The Andalusian Fates, José Villegas y Cordero, 1910–1913

José Villegas y Cordero (1844–1921), a Spanish painter from Seville, sold his first picture at the age of twelve and in time became one of the best-paid and most collected of Spanish artists.

His early work is devoted to Orientalist subjects; after all, Morocco is nearer to Seville than Portugal or France. He lived for thirty years in Italy, and on returning to his homeland at the beginning of the twentieth century found himself in the thick of Madrid's intellectual life. It was just at this time that a Spanish theme appeared in his art.

The Andalusian Fates shows three brightly dressed young women in the guise of Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos, who spin, measure and cut the threads of destiny, embodying human fate in Greek mythology. The female figures have turned their gaze on the viewer, as if to show that his fate, too, may already have been decided by them.

Interestingly, in the first version of the painting these were women on a balcony in Seville.