Harriet Goodhue Hosmer by Black & Case (DLI 2013100010)

Harriet Goodhue Hosmer (October 9, 1830 – February 21, 1908) was a neoclassical sculptor, considered the most distinguished female sculptor in America during the 19th century. She is known as the first female professional sculptor. Among other technical innovations, she pioneered a process for turning

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

into

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

. Hosmer once lived in an expatriate colony in Rome, befriending many prominent writers and artists. She was a cousin of poet William H. C. Hosmer and tragic actress

Jean Hosmer Jean Haskell Hosmer (January 29, 1842 – January 29, 1890) was an American actress and tragedienne who reached the zenith of her career directly following the American Civil War, and is associated through her career with actor and Lincoln assas ...

Biography

Early life and education

Harriet Hosmer was born on October 9, 1830 at

Watertown, Massachusetts Watertown is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and is part of Greater Boston. The population was 35,329 in the 2020 census. Its neighborhoods include Bemis, Coolidge Square, East Watertown, Watertown Square, and the West End. Watertown ...

, and completed a course of study at Sedgewick School in

Lenox, Massachusetts Lenox is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. The town is based in Western Massachusetts and part of the Pittsfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,095 at the 2020 census. Lenox is the site of Shakespeare & Company and T ...

. Her mother and three siblings died during her childhood. She was a delicate child, and was encouraged by her father, physician Hiram Hosmer, to pursue a course of physical training by which she became expert in rowing, skating, and riding. He also encouraged her artistic passion. She traveled alone in the wilderness of the western United States, and visited the

Dakota Indians The Dakota (pronounced , Dakota language: ''Dakȟóta/Dakhóta'') are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultures of the Sioux people, and are typically divided into ...

. She showed an early aptitude for modeling, and studied anatomy with her father. Through the influence of family friend

Wayman Crow Wayman Crow (March 7, 1808 – May 10, 1885) was one of the founders of Washington University, a St. Louis businessman, and a politician. Early life Born in Hartford, Kentucky on March 7, 1808, Crow was the youngest of eight children. His paren ...

she attended the anatomical instruction of Dr. Joseph Nash McDowell at the

Missouri Medical College Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) is the medical school of Washington University in St. Louis in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1891, the School of Medicine has 1,260 students, 604 of which are pursuing a medical degree with o ...

(then the medical department of the state university). She then studied in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and practiced modeling at home until November 1852, when, with her father and her lover

Charlotte Cushman Charlotte Saunders Cushman (July 23, 1816 – February 18, 1876) was an American stage actress. Her voice was noted for its full contralto register, and she was able to play both male and female parts. She lived intermittently in Rome, in an expa ...

, she went to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, where from 1853 to 1860 she was the pupil of the Welsh sculptor John Gibson, and she was finally allowed to study live models.

Rome

While living in Rome, she associated with a colony of artists and writers that included

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...

Bertel Thorvaldsen Bertel Thorvaldsen (; 19 November 1770 – 24 March 1844) was a Danes, Danish and Icelanders, Icelandic Sculpture, sculptor medallist, medalist of international fame, who spent most of his life (1797–1838) in Italy. Thorvaldsen was born in ...

William Makepeace Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray (; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel '' Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portrait of British society, and t ...

, the philosopher and feminist

Frances Power Cobbe Frances Power Cobbe (4 December 1822 – 5 April 1904) was an Anglo-Irish writer, philosopher, religious thinker, social reformer, anti-vivisection activist and leading women's suffrage campaigner. She founded a number of animal advocacy group ...

and the two female Georges, Eliot and

Sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of s ...

. When in Florence, she was frequently the guest of

Elizabeth Barrett Elizabeth Barrett Browning (née Moulton-Barrett; 6 March 1806 – 29 June 1861) was an English poet of the Victorian era, popular in Britain and the United States during her lifetime. Born in County Durham, the eldest of 12 children, Elizabe ...

and

Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings ...

at Casa Guidi. The artists included

Anne Whitney Anne Whitney (September 2, 1821 – January 23, 1915) was an American sculptor and poet. She made full-length and bust sculptures of prominent political and historical figures, and her works are in major museums in the United States. She received ...

Emma Stebbins Emma Stebbins (1 September 1815 - 25 October 1882) was an American sculptor and the first woman to receive a public art commission from New York City. She was best known for her work ''Angel of the Waters (1873)'', also known as Bethesda Fountain ...

Edmonia Lewis Mary Edmonia Lewis, also known as "Wildfire" (c. July 4, 1844 – September 17, 1907), was an American sculptor, of mixed African-American and Native American ( Mississauga Ojibwe) heritage. Born free in Upstate New York, she worked for most of ...

, Louisa Lander,

Margaret Foley Margaret E. Foley (1827–1877) was an American sculptor who worked in a Neoclassical style. In addition to sculpture, she is known for cameo carving, medallion portraits, and direct carving. Early years Foley was born in northern Vermont in ...

Florence Freeman Florence Freeman (January 14, 1836 – August 8, 1883) was an American sculptor. Freeman was born in Boston, Massachusetts, daughter of Peter Wilder Freeman and Frances Ann Dorr. After studying with Richard Saltonstall Greenough, she went to ...

, and

Vinnie Ream Lavinia Ellen "Vinnie" Ream Hoxie (September 25, 1847 – November 20, 1914) was an American sculptor. Her most famous work is the statue of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in the United States Capitol rotunda. Ream's '' Statue of Sequoyah' ...

. Hawthorne was clearly describing these in his novel ''

The Marble Faun ''The Marble Faun: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni'', also known by the British title ''Transformation'', was the last of the four major romances by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and was published in 1860. ''The Marble Faun'', written on the eve of the Ame ...

'', and

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

called them a "sisterhood of American ‘lady sculptors'." As Hosmer is now considered the most famous female sculptor of her time in America, she is credited with having 'led the flock' of other female sculptors.

argued that the case of Hosmer showed that women could be creative artistic geniuses, just as much as men, and that Hosmer's work was pioneering a new women's art that celebrated female strength and power.

Artistic style

Hosmer was drawn to the Neoclassical style, which was easy to study given her presence in Rome. She enjoyed studying mythology, and she created various representations of mythological icons, such as the sculpture of ''The Sleeping Faun'', which includes intricate details of elements such as his hair, the grapes, and the cloth draped over him.

Later life

She also designed and constructed machinery, and devised new processes, especially in connection with sculpture, such as a method of converting the ordinary limestone of Italy into marble, and a process of modeling in which the rough shape of a statue is first made in plaster, on which a coating of wax is laid for working out the finer forms. Hosmer later lived in

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and

Terre Haute Terre Haute ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, about 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a ...

, Indiana. Hosmer exhibited her sculpture of Queen Isabella, commissioned by the

Queen Isabella Association The Queen Isabella Association was formed to raise funds to provide a statue of Queen Isabella of Spain on the site of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. The group's additional purpose was to advance the cause of women's ...

, in the California State Building at the 1893

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordi ...

in Chicago, Illinois. The statue was exhibited again in 1894 at the '' California Midwinter International Exposition''. Bain News Service

For 25 years she was romantically involved with Louisa, Lady Ashburton, widow of

Bingham Baring, 2nd Baron Ashburton William Bingham Baring, 2nd Baron Ashburton, (June 1799 – 23 March 1864) was a British businessman and a Whig politician who later became a Tory. Background and education William Bingham Baring was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in June ...

(died 1864). Lady Ashburton provided Harriet a studio close to the Ashburton home in

Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End. ...

, London.

I Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, MA, USA 2 (2)

Hosmer died at Watertown, Massachusetts, on February 21, 1908, and is buried in the family plot at

Mount Auburn Cemetery Mount Auburn Cemetery is the first rural cemetery, rural, or garden, cemetery in the United States, located on the line between Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, Watertown in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middl ...

, Cambridge. Aside from the work she produced, Harriet Hosmer made her mark on art history and feminist and gender studies. As the

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openin ...

put it, "Harriet Goodhue Hosmer defied 19th-century social convention by becoming a successful sculptor of large scale, Neoclassical works in marble."

Context

In the 19th century women did not usually have careers, especially careers as sculptors. Women were not allowed to have the same art education as men, they were not trained in the making "great" art such as large history paintings, mythological and biblical scenes, modeling of figure. Women usually produced artwork that could be done in their home, such as still lives, portraits, landscapes, and small scale carvings, although even

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

allowed her daughter, the Princess Louise, to study sculpture. Hosmer was not allowed to attend art classes because working from a live model was forbidden for women, but she took classes in anatomy to learn the human form and paid for private sculpture lessons. The biggest career move she made was moving to Rome to study art. Hosmer owned her own studio and ran her own business. She became a well-known artist in Rome, and received several commissions. Hosmer commented on her break from tradition by saying "I honor every woman who has strength enough to step outside the beaten path when she feels that her walk lies in another; strength enough to stand up and be laughed at, if necessary."

Legacy

Mount Hosmer, near

Lansing, Iowa Lansing is a city in Lansing Township, Allamakee County, Iowa, United States. The population was 968 at the time of the 2020 census. History Lansing was platted ''circa'' 1851. The city was so named because the first settler was a native of La ...

is named after Hosmer; she won a footrace to the summit of the hill during a steamboat layover during the 1850s. During World War II the

Liberty ship Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Mass ...

was built in

Panama City, Florida Panama City is a city in and the county seat of Bay County, Florida, United States. Located along U.S. Highway 98 (US 98), it is the largest city between Tallahassee and Pensacola. It is the more populated city of the Panama City–Lynn Ha ...

, and named in her honor. A book of poetry, ''Waking Stone: Inventions on the Life Of Harriet Hosmer'', by Carole Simmons Oles, was published in 2006. Her sculpture, ''Puck and Owl'', is featured on the

Boston Women's Heritage Trail The Boston Women's Heritage Trail is a series of walking tours in Boston, Massachusetts, leading past sites important to Boston women's history. The tours wind through several neighborhoods, including the Back Bay and Beacon Hill, commemorating w ...

. The Hosmer School in Watertown, Massachusetts is a public elementary school named in her honor.

Selected works

Hosmer made both large and small scale works and also produced work to specific order. Her smaller works were frequently issued in multiples to accommodate demand. Among her most popular were 'Beatrice Cenci', which exists in several versions.

Clasped Hands of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning MET DT8282

* ''Hesper, The Evening Star'', her first original sculpture (1852) * ''Doctor McDowell'', a portrait of a man who had a great impact on Hosmer's professional life (1852) * '' Clasped Hands of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning'' (1853) * Hosmer Medusa MIA 7629

Daphne Daphne (; ; el, Δάφνη, , ), a minor figure in Greek mythology, is a naiad, a variety of female nymph associated with fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of freshwater. There are several versions of the myth in whi ...

'' and ''

Medusa In Greek mythology, Medusa (; Ancient Greek: Μέδουσα "guardian, protectress"), also called Gorgo, was one of the three monstrous Gorgons, generally described as winged human females with living venomous snakes in place of hair. Those ...

'', ideal heads (1853) * ''Puck'' (1855), a spirited and graceful conception which she copied for the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

, the

Duke of Hamilton Duke of Hamilton is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, created in April 1643. It is the senior dukedom in that peerage (except for the Dukedom of Rothesay held by the Sovereign's eldest son), and as such its holder is the premier peer of Sco ...

and others *''

Oenone In Greek mythology, Oenone (; Ancient Greek: Οἰνώνη ''Oinōnē''; "wine woman") was the first wife of Paris of Troy, whom he abandoned for Helen. Oenone was also the ancient name of an island, which was later named after Aegina, daughter ...

'' (1855), her first life-sized figure, now in the

Saint Louis Art Museum The Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) is one of the principal U.S. art museums, with paintings, sculptures, cultural objects, and ancient masterpieces from all corners of the world. Its three-story building stands in Forest Park in St. Louis, Mi ...

* ''Will-O-The-Wisp'', three known variations (1856, 1858, 1864) *''

Beatrice Cenci Beatrice Cenci (; 6 February 157711 September 1599) was a Roman noblewoman who murdered her father, Count Francesco Cenci. She was beheaded in 1599 after a lurid murder trial in Rome that gave rise to an enduring legend about her. Life Beatri ...

'' (1857), which exists in several versions, including one in the

St. Louis Mercantile Library The St. Louis Mercantile Library, founded in 1846 in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, was originally established as a membership library, and is the oldest extant library west of the Mississippi River. Since 1998 the library has been housed at the U ...

and one in the

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

*''

Zenobia Septimia Zenobia (Palmyrene Aramaic: , , vocalized as ; AD 240 – c. 274) was a third-century queen of the Palmyrene Empire in Syria. Many legends surround her ancestry; she was probably not a commoner and she married the ruler of the city, ...

, Queen of Palmyra'' (1857),

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

* ''Lady Constance Talbot'', "the only known Hosmer medallion that is a bas relief portrait of a woman" (1857) * ''Tomb of Judith Faconnet'', the first American-made artwork that is now permanently installed in Sant'Andrea della Fratte (1857 - 1858) * ''The Fountain of the Hylas and the Water Nymphs'' (1858) *''Zenobia'' (1859), owned by the

St. Louis Art Museum The Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) is one of the principal U.S. art museums, with paintings, sculptures, cultural objects, and ancient masterpieces from all corners of the world. Its three-story building stands in Forest Park in St. Louis, Mi ...

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

* ''The Fountain of the Siren'', her most well known fountain design (1861) * '' Thomas Hart Benton'', the first public monument in the state of Missouri (1862) * ''Gate for an Art Gallery'' (1864) *''A Sleeping Faun'' (1865) is now being displayed at the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

. Another version is in

Iveagh House Iveagh House is a Georgian house which now contains the headquarters of the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin, Ireland. It is also sometimes used colloquially as a metonym referring to the department itself. Iveagh House was originally t ...

, Dublin, see Homan Potterton, 'An American Sculpture at the Dublin Exhibition of 1865: Hariet Hosmer's ''Sleeping Faun, ''The Arts in Ireland'' Autumn 1973. * ''Portrait of Wayman Crow'' (1866), '' John Gibson'' (1866) *''A Waking Faun''; a bronze statue of Thomas H. Benton (1866 - 1867) for Lafayette Park, St. Louis. It was created as a companion to "The Sleeping Faun". * ''Lincoln Memorial'', sometimes known as "Freedmen's Monument" (1867 - 1868) * ''

Queen of Naples The following is a list of rulers of the Kingdom of Naples, from its first separation from the Kingdom of Sicily to its merger with the same into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Kingdom of Naples (1282–1501) House of Anjou In 1382, the Kin ...

'', "the second of the three full size statues of celebrated female sovereigns Hosmer chose to represent over the course of her career" (1868) * ''Sentinel of Pompeii'' (1878) * ''Crerar Lincoln Memorial - The African Sibyl'', made in attempt to win a Lincoln Memorial competition (1888 - 1896) *Bronze gates for the Earl of Brownlow's art gallery at

Ashridge Ashridge is a country estate and stately home in Hertfordshire, England in the United Kingdom. It is situated in the Chiltern Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, about north of Berkhamsted and north west of London. The estate com ...

Hall. * ''The Staghound'', commissioned by the Empress of Austria * ''Dolphin Fountain'' (1892), the male companion to Hosmer's ''The Mermaid's Cradle'', Hosmer's only remaining complete fountain (1892 - 1893) * ''Queen Isabella of Castile'', Hosmer's last known completed work that was commissioned by the ''Daughters of Isabella'' (1893) *An alternate

Emancipation Memorial The Emancipation Memorial, also known as the Freedman's Memorial or the Emancipation Group is a monument in Lincoln Park in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was sometimes referred to as the "Lincoln Memorial" before the more ...

—designed but not constructed *Statues of the queen of Naples as the heroine of Gaeta, and of Queen Isabella of Spain for the Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893.

Gallery

File:Daphne by David Finn.jpg, ''Daphne'', modeled 1853 File:Puck by Harriet Hosmer.jpg, ''Puck'', c. 1855–56 File:Hosmer.jpg, ''Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra'', 1857,

File:Will-o-the-Wisp by Harriet Hosmer.jpg, ''Will-o-the-Wisp'', c. 1858 File:Zenobia SLAM 4067.jpg, ''Zenobia in Chains'', c. 1859, Saint Louis Art Museum File:ThomasHartBentonStatueByHarrietHosmer.jpg, ''Thomas Hart Benton'', c. 1868, Lafayette Square Park. St. Louis File:The Sleeping Faun by Harriet Hosmer.jpg, ''The Sleeping Faun'', circa 1870, Cleveland Museum of Art File:Harriet Hosmer - Queen Isabella c. 1893.jpg, ''Queen Isabella'' c. 1893

References

Additional sources

* *Culkin, Kate. ''Harriet Hosmer: A Cultural Biography''. Amherst:

University of Massachusetts Press The University of Massachusetts Press is a university press that is part of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The press was founded in 1963, publishing scholarly books and non-fiction. The press imprint is overseen by an interdisciplinar ...

, 2010. * * *

External links

*
The Winterthur Library
Overview of an archival collection on Harriet Hosmer. * Hosmer, Harriet; Carr, Cornelia
''Harriet Hosmer letters and memories''
(1913) (Internet Archives).

Harriet Goodhue Hosmer, 1830-1908. A Finding Aid
. Watertown Free Public Library, Watertown, MA 2008
Entry for Harriet Hosmer
in the

Union List of Artist Names The Union List of Artist Names (ULAN) is a free online database of the Getty Research Institute using a controlled vocabulary, which by 2018 contained over 300,000 artists and over 720,000 names for them, as well as other information about artist ...

Papers, 1834-1959.Schlesinger Library
Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. *Harriet Hosmer video from The Life and Times of Missouri's Charles Parsons: Between Art and War https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nHepjd_FGM {{DEFAULTSORT:Hosmer, Harriet 1830 births 1908 deaths American women sculptors Lesbian artists LGBT artists from the United States LGBT people from Massachusetts People from Watertown, Massachusetts Sculptors from Massachusetts Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery 19th-century American sculptors 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American women artists 19th-century American women artists