6 - The Emerging of a New Allegory in Mercantile Culture

Summary

In the fifteenth century, a new moral allegory connected to the figure of fortuna began to develop. In contrast to the Boethian one, discussed in Chapter 5, the moral force of this allegory aimed at not missing the opportunities for profit and success offered by fortuna. This chapter argues that this new allegory, which underlay the development of the new concept of the future as unknown time-yet-to-come, emerged first in mercantile culture. It traces its development in the writings and visual world of three Florentine merchants whose careers spanned the late fourteenth to the late fifteenth centuries. While never breaking with the providential future of Christianity, these merchants began to articulate ideas about the rewards of financial speculation and the promise and potential of taking risks on unknown future outcomes.