Filatrice

<p>The woman in Henry Kirke Brown’s sculpture holds a distaff in the crook of her right arm, twisting wool or flax into thread and onto a spindle. This classical portrayal of a domestic task evokes the mythic Three Fates, one of whom spins the thread of life. Brown modeled <em>The Filatrice</em> (Italian for “spinner”) in New York and cast it at the foundry he established there in 1848 after his return from Italy. <em>The Filatrice</em> was commissioned by the American Art-Union, an organization that aimed to bring the fine arts to middle-class audiences. Twenty casts were made of the sculpture and distributed to select members by way of lottery.</p>