The Three Fates: Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos
Jan Muller Netherlandish
after Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem Netherlandish
Publisher Harmen Jansz. Muller Netherlandish
Not on view
Muller made six engravings after Cornelis; and, impressions of four are in the Met. In addition to the present work they include Cain Killing Abel (56.597.4), Arion on a Dolphin (56.597.5) and The Fight Between Ulysses and Irus (56.597.6). According to Greek and Roman mythology, the Three Fates were goddesses who determined the course of human lives and were traditionally portrayed as women spinning wool. Muller shows them seated together in a rocky landscape, overlooking a barren plain with a few buildings in the far distance. In the center is Clotho (Greek for ‘the spinner’), spinning the thread of life for all mortals; at the right is Lachesis (‘the apportioner’), measuring out the thread -- determining the length of a mortal’s life; and at the left, Atropos (‘she who cannot be turned’), cutting the thread, signaling the moment of death.
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