Harriet Goodhue Hosmer

Harriet Hosmer 'was a noted sculptor. Her works include 'Queen Isabella' 1894 and 1868, 'Sleeping Faun' 1865, 'Zenobia' 1861, 'Puck' 1856, 'Oenone' 1855, 'The Clasped Hands of Mr. and Mrs. Browning' 1853, and others. She studied in Rome 1853-1860, and studied in St. Louis and Boston to 1852.

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HARRIET GOODHUE HOSMER

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 into marble. Hosmer once lived in an expatriate colony in Rome, befriending many prominent writers and artists.

Harriet Goodhue Hosmer, daughter of Dr. Hiram and Sarah (Grant) Hosmer, was born Oct. 9, 1830, at Watertown, Mass. Dr. Hosmer had lost his wife and one child by consumption and made the care of this girl's health the first consideration. He encouraged her to engage in outdoor sports then considered to be those of a boy. She was naturally high spirited and independent, and for a time was the despair of all her teachers, who M, had no control over her. At sixteen she entered Mrs. Sedgwick's school at Lenox, where she remained for three years. Here for the first time her wild and impulsive nature was restrained and her energies wisely directed. When she returned to Watertown she had determined to make sculpture her life work. Although now imbued with a serious purpose she always remained a fearless and high-spirited woman, and her eccentric ways continually excited the wonder of the Roman people, among whom she lived for so many years.

She studied sculpture for a time in Boston with Mr. Stephenson. In the meantime she studied anatomy with her father. Realizing the great importance to her of the study of anatomy she attended the medical school at St. Louis to perfect herself in this subject. After returning to Watertown she worked in her studio which her father had built for her and here produced a copy of Canova’s Napoleon and several other works. She then determined to go to Rome. In spite of many difficulties she carried out this plan in 1852. In Rome she was fortunate enough to be admitted as a pupil of the English sculptor John Gibson.

While studying with Gibson she modelled a bust of Daphne and one of Medusa (1853). In 1852 she finished a full length statue of OEnone. This gave such satisfaction that she received an order for a similar work for the Mercantile Library in St. Louis. This commission was filled two years later by a life-size statue of Beatrice Cenci. She next (1855) designed Puck, a humorous figure, based on Shakespeare’s description. After that date she produced a large number of works, Will-o’-the-wisp, Zenobia, statue of Col. Thomas H. Benton at St. Louis, Sleeping Faun, Waking Faun, and a monument to Abraham Lincoln. For the Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893, she designed a statue of the Queen of Naples as the heroine of Gaeta, and one of the Queen of Spain.

While in Rome she was associated with Hawthorne, Thorwaldson, Flaxman, Thackeray, George Eliot, and George Sand, and was frequently the guest of the Brownings in Florence. Miss Hosmer’s studio was said to have been the most beautiful in Rome. She held a leading position in the art society there. Harriet Hosmer won for herself a high place among the sculptors of the world and her name is known everywhere. She continued to live in Rome until a few years before her death. She died in Watertown, Mass., Feb. 21, 1908.

Mount Hosmer, near Lansing, Iowa is named after Hosmer; she won a footrace to the summit of the hill during a steamboat layover during the 1850s.

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.

Selected works

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Hosmer#Selected_works

Gallery

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Hosmer#Gallery