Josephine and the Fortune-teller

Wilkie painted Josephine and the Fortune-teller in 1837, depicting the legend that a card-reader in Martinique had predicted Josephine's future as Empress of France. The exotic Caribbean setting and the prophetic subject reflect Wilkie's late interest in Romantic narrative and historical anecdote, a development that paralleled his growing ambition to expand beyond the Scottish genre scenes that had made his reputation. He had been appointed Principal Painter in Ordinary to William IV in 1830, and his late works increasingly sought subjects of historical and exotic grandeur appropriate to that royal status. The story of Josephine's prophecy was widely circulated in the Napoleonic legend industry that flourished during the Restoration and July Monarchy, making the subject culturally resonant across Europe. The painting is now held at the National Galleries Scotland, which preserves this late work as an example of how Wilkie's artistic ambitions expanded in directions quite different from the domestic comedy of his early success.

Wilkie renders the tropical setting with warm, atmospheric colors influenced by his study of Venetian masters. The loose brushwork and rich palette of his late style create an exotic, dreamlike atmosphere suited to the prophetic subject.