The following description for has been prepared entirely by the current owner, Roberts S. Fastov, Esq., and, at the collector’s request, has not been edited by Sloans & Kenyon

Note 1) The following Fortune biographical materials are taken from the Askart.com website.

Fortune was:

“Born in Sausalito, CA on Jan. 15, 1885. While in her teens Fortune studied art at Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland and St John's Wood School of Art in London. Returning to California in 1905, she studied at the Mark Hopkins Institute under Arthur Mathews followed by work at the Art Students League of New York City under DuMond, Mora, Sterner, and Chase.

Many of her early works were destroyed when the family home in San Francisco was dynamited during the disaster of 1906. Early in her career she concentrated on portraiture; however, it was her landscapes and harbor scenes which brought her international acclaim. She lived and worked in Europe during three periods between 1897-1927. In California her energies were divided between her studio-home in San Francisco at 1254 Hyde Street and the Monterey Peninsula. One of the first artists to introduce the bright palette of Impressionism to California in the early part of this century, her style was considered modern by conservatives.

Fortune was a devout Catholic and in 1928 founded the Monterey Guild which was dedicated to ecclesiastical art. In the mid-1930's she abandoned easel painting for the liturgical arts and, with nine other artists, decorated over thirty Catholic churches across the country. In 1956 she received the Gold Medal Pro Excelsior et Pontifice from Pope Pius XII for her mosaic adornment of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Kansas City.

Fortune never married, and died in Carmel on May 15, 1969

Member:

Carmel AA; SFAA; Society of Scottish Artists; Monterey Guild

Exh:

Del Monte Art Gallery, 1907-28; SFAA, 1913-34; Calif. Art Club, 1914; Panama-Calif. Expo (San Diego), 1915 (silver medal); PPIE, 1915 (silver medal); Helgesen Gallery (SF), 1918, 1921 (solos); NAD 1921-32; Paris Salons, 1923, 1924 (silver medal), 1934; Galerie Beaux Arts (SF), 1927 (solo); Crocker Museum (Sacramento), 1927 (solo); LACMA, 1928 (solo); Santa Barbara Art League, 1928 (solo); Carmel Art Gallery, 1928 (solo); San Diego FA Gallery, 1928 (solo); Calif. State Fairs, 1928-30 (1st prizes); GGIE, 1939; Oakland Museum, 1981; Monterey Peninsula Museum, 1992

In:

Oakland Museum; De Young Museum; Shasta State Park; Monterey Peninsula Museum; Monterey Historical and Art Ass'n; Irvine (CA) Museum.

Source:

Edan Hughes, “Artists in California, 1786-1940; “Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers (Fielding, Mantle); California Art Research, 20 volumes; Artists of the American West (Doris Dawdy); California Impressionism (Wm. Gerdts & Will South); Art in California (R. L. Bernier, 1916); Women Artists in America (Collins & Opitz); Yesterday's Artists on the Monterey Peninsula; American Art Annual 1929; Women Artists of the American West; California State Library (Sacramento); Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs (Bénézit, E); Monterey Peninsula Herald, 5-16-1969 (obituary); Antiques & Fine Art magazine, Jan. 1990.”

Note 2) The reader should carefully consider the similarity between the “Summer Landscape” and the Fortune painting being offered at auction, in terms of the subject matter of a yard with trees and greenery, Impressionist brush work, similar palette of Impressionist pastel green colors, almost square format; and the comparable size of the “Summer Landscape,” which is 22.25 in. x 26 in., and the Fortune painting being offered at auction, which is 24 in. x 24 in.. See “Summer Landscape” which was sold by Bonhams & Butterfields, San Francisco on 11/23/2009 for $278,000:

Title/Subject: Summer Landscape Signed. Oil on canvas. 22.25 in. x 26 in. sold for $278,000 on 11/23/2009 at Bonhams & Butterfields, San Francisco, CA

Note 3) The foregoing considerations and the following auction records regarding Fortune sales warrant the conclusion that the presale estimate of $150,000-$250,000 is reasonable and justifiable.

Title/Subject: Drying sails I Signed. Oil on artist's board. 12.50 in. x 16 in. sold for $170,000 on 08/09/2011 at Bonhams & Butterfields, San Francisco, CA

Title/Subject: Late Afternoon, Monterey Signed. Oil on canvas. 12 in. x 16 in. sold for $210,600 on 12/06/2010 at Michaan's Auctions, Alameda, CA

Title/Subject: The Pool, Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco (Court of the Four Seasons), circa 1915 Signed. Oil on canvas. 16.25 in. x 20 in. sold for $362,000 on 11/22/2010 at Bonhams & Butterfields, San Francisco, CA

Title/Subject: Scavengers, St. Ives, 1922 Signed and dated. Oil on artist's board. 12 in. x 16 in. sold for $182,000 on 11/22/2010 at Bonhams & Butterfields, San Francisco, CA

Title/Subject: St. Ives Harbor Signed. Oil on canvas. 12.20 in. x 16.20 in. sold for $628,000 on 04/08/2008 at Bonhams & Butterfields, San Francisco, CA

Title/Subject: Late Afternoon, Monterey, 1914 Signed. Oil on canvas. 26 in. x 28 in. sold for $1,832,000 on 12/10/2007 at Bonhams & Butterfields, San Francisco, CA

r

Title/Subject: Mending Nets Signed. Oil on artist's board. 13 in. x 16 in. sold for $480,000 on 08/07/2007 at Bonhams & Butterfields, San Francisco, CA