The Fates

One of several sketches for a relief representing the classical goddesses of fate, which Thorvaldsen executed in 1833. On the left we see Clotho, winding the wool around the spinning wheel, on the right Lachesis, who is spinning the thread, and in the middle stands Atropos, measuring the length of the thread of life. The winged figures are referred to by both Hesiod and Homer, and Thorvaldsen was acquainted with them both via ancient artefacts and contemporary works by Asmus Jacob Carstens, Christian Daniel Rauch and others.