Lot 183: Harriet Goodhue Hosmer (1830-1908)

Harriet Goodhue Hosmer (1830-1908)
Daphne
signed 'HARRIET HOSMER/FECIT ROMA' (on the reverse)
marble
28½ in. (72.4 cm.) high

T. Tolles, et al., American Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. I, New York, 1999, pp. 133-35, another example illustrated.

Private collection, circa 1980s.

Harriet Hosmer was one of the pioneering woman sculptors of the Nineteenth century. Continually challenging traditional gender roles, Hosmer opened her own studio at a young age and applied to an entirely male medical anatomy class to which she was denied entry for being a woman. She moved to Rome in 1852 to study under sculptor John Gibson, becoming the first female American sculptor to practice in what was then the heart of the artistic world.

Arguably a personal reflection, Hosmer's favorite subjects were strong, at times tragic, and heroic classical women. Daphne, the virgin nymph who vowed eternal chastity was one Hosmer's first Roman sculptures, followed by Medusa, Diana, and Oenone. Unlike most images of Daphne which depict her fleeing Apollo's grasp and pleading to be transformed into a tree, Hosmer's sculpture focuses on Daphne's simple, calm elegance, displaying both her strength and beauty. Another version of this bust is in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.