Harriet Goodhue Hosmer
“I honor every woman who has strength enough to step out of the beaten path when she feels her path lies in another.”
– Harriet goodhue Hosmer
Harriet “Hatty” Hosmer was born in 1830 in Watertown, Massachusetts. Having lost her mother and siblings to tuberculosis, Hatty was raised by her physician father, a man who believed that the best place for a child— even a daughter— was outside. While her childhood contemporaries were practicing watercolors and the art of conversation, Hatty roamed the land armed with her pistol and accompanied by pets. She chose taxidermy over needlepoint and practical jokes over propriety. Expelled from three schools by the time she reached high school, perhaps the person who wrote that ‘well-behaved women rarely make history’ had Hosmer in mind.
While Hatty was stubborn and wild, she was also talented and bright. An inventor and sculptor during a time when the world would have preferred she be only a wife and a mother, Hatty was determined to make her art. When told anatomy courses were no place for a lady, Hosmer persuaded her best friend’s father and her long-term benefactor, Wayland Crow, to pull some strings. With his help, she moved to St. Louis and became the first woman to take classes at Missouri Medical College. Later, she moved to Rome to study under acclaimed Welsh sculptor John Gibson. Luckily for her and for us, Gibson did not believe that Hatty was too delicate nor too corruptible to study live models. These studies and those done in Missouri proved invaluable to Hosmer’s art, as one must fully understand the workings/proportions of the body to be able to depict it accurately.
The Sleeping Faun, after 1865, marble. High Museum of Art, Atlanta, gift of the West Foundation in honor of Gudmund Vigtel and Michael E. Shaprio, 2010.61. Photo: Adrian Compean Garcia. © 2019 Matrons & Mistresses.
the sleeping faun, after 1865
Harriet goodhue Hosmer
Hatty often drew inspiration from mythology and seemed particularly drawn to strong women throughout history. Perhaps she felt a bit of a kindred connection with Daphne, the forest nymph who chose transfiguration into a tree over being forced into relations and marriage to Apollo. Late at night, I find myself wondering ... if the lines between reality and mythology blurred, as they often do in art, what Hatty would have chosen if she found herself in a similar situation. Given her love for nature and her steadfast refusal to conform, I know where I would place my bets. Thankfully, Hatty never had to choose. She was able to walk her own path... a path of art and a path of devoted partnership with Lady Ashburton, her companion of 25 years.
Photo: Adrian Compean Garcia. © 2019 Matrons & Mistresses
Daphne, 1853, carved 1854
harriet goodhue hosmer (1830-1908)
“I first met Daphne over email. Pictures were sent, and I was asked if I might have an interest.... If so, she would be available this weekend. While she admittedly wasn’t exactly my ‘type’ (I tended to lean more towards exotic and edgy), there was no denying that there was something special about her graceful features and elegant lines. Hair swept up into an intricate bun, she was captivating in her own right. Although some might have mistaken her soft gaze and downward tilting head for submission (a trait I found rather boring), I innately felt differently. To me, Daphne exuded purpose and serenity. I needed more of both in my life.... I needed Daphne.”
– Excerpt from “Best-Kept Secrets No More: Matrons of the Arts” [1]
Click here to read the full blog article of how Daphne came to be the first acquisition of the Matrons of the Art initiative at NCMA.