Medusa

1854

Harriet Goodhue Hosmer American, 1830-1908

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About the Artwork

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Markings

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Provenance

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Exhibition History

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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About the Artwork

Title Medusa

Artwork Date 1854

Artist Harriet Goodhue Hosmer

Life Dates 1830-1908

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. American

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Marble

Dimensions Overall: 27 1/4 × 18 1/2 × 9 inches (69.2 × 47 × 22.9 cm)

Classification Sculpture

Department American Art before 1950

Credit Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 76.6

Markings

Signed Inscribed, on verso: HARRIET HOSMER | SCULPT | ROME

Inscriptions ------

Provenance

from 1855, possibly Mrs. Samuel Appleton (Boston, Massachusetts, USA). by ca. 1872, possibly Mr. & Mrs. John Bullard (Brooklyn, New York, USA). ca. 1872- 1892, George William Curtis (Ashfield, Massachusetts, USA)

1892-1941, William C. Curtis (Ashfield, Massachusetts, USA)

1942-present, Ashfield auction house (Ashfield Massachusetts, USA)

1942-1961, private New York Collector (New York, USA)

1961-1971, John B. Friend (Shelburne Falls, New York, USA)

1971-1975, Graham Williford (New York, USA)

1975, Shepherd Gallery (21 East 84th Street, New York, New York, USA)

1976-present, purchase by the Robert H. Tannahill Foundation for the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

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Published References

The Art Journal 6 (1854): p. 354.

Le Vert, Octavia Walton. Souvenirs of Travel, Vol. 2. 1857, p. 160.

Allen, Harriet Trowbridge. Travels in Europe and the East During the Years 1858-1859 and 1863-1864. New Haven, 1874, p. 183.

Thurston, R.B. “Harriet Hosmer.” Eminent Women of the Age. Hartford, 1869, p. 576.

Eastlake, Lady Elizabeth Rigby. Life of John Gibson, Sculptor. London, 1870, p. 8.

Bolton, Sarah. Lives of Girls who Became Famous. New York, 1886, pp. 141-157.

Overland Monthly 23 (February 1894).

Craven, W. Sculpture in America. New York, 1968, p. 327.

Rubinstein, C.S. American Women Artists. Boston, 1982, p. 77 (ill.).

The White Marmorean Flock: 19th Century American Women Neoclassical Sculptors. Exh. cat., Vassar College Art Gallery. Poughkeepsie, NY, 1973, no. 4 (ill.).

Bulletin of the DIA 55, 1 (1976): p. 8 (ill.).

Bulletin of the DIA 56, 2 (1978): pp. 97-107 (ill.).

Sherwood, Dolly. Harriet Hosmer, American Sculptor, 1830-1908. Columbia, MO, 1991, p. 85 (ill.).

Rubenstein, Charlotte Streifer. Review of Harriet Hosmer, American Sculptor, 1830-1908, by Dolly Sherwood. Women’s Art Journal 15, 1 (Spring-Summer 1994): pp. 38-42 (ill.).

Fryd, Vivien Green. “The ‘Ghosting’ of Incest and Female Relations in Harriet Hosmer’s ‘Beatric Cenci.’” The Art Bulletin 88, 2 (June 2006): pp. 292-309 (ill.).

Morford, Mark P.O. and Robert J. Lenardon. Classical Mythology, 8th ed. New York, 2007, p. 553 (ill.).

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