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The Sleeping Faun

modeled 1864, carved c. 1870

sculptor

Harriet Goodhue Hosmer

(American, 1830–1908)

America, 19th century

Marble

Overall: 127 cm (50 in.)

Weight: 1500 lbs. crated upon arrival at CMA

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1997.15

Location

206 American Landscape

Did you know?

Hosmer said, "I honor every woman who has strength enough to step out of the beaten path. . . ."

Description

Hosmer is the best known female member of a large group of American artists working in Italy during the mid-1800s. The Sleeping Faun, a depiction of a pointed-eared woodland spirit, demonstrates her mastery of the neoclassical style, which was inspired by the art of ancient Greece and Rome. Hosmer’s playful sense of humor infuses the composition: a half-human, half-goat satyr mischievously ties the unwitting faun’s animal skin garment to a tree stump.

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Inscriptions

Inscription

Signed and inscribed on base: "H HOSMER Fecit -- Romae"; titled on base: "THE SLEEPING FAUN"

Provenance

1870s

Prince of Wales

Jacob Wakefield

Kendal Museum, Kendal, Cumbria, England

1977

Sotheby's, London

Christopher Forbes

Prince of Wales, 1870s; Jacob Wakefield; Kendal Museum, Kendal, Cumbria, England; Sotheby's, London, March 16, 1977; Christopher Forbes; (Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc.)

Citations

Ausherman, Maria, Masters of Shape: The Lives and Art of American Women Sculptors. (Novato, CA: Goff Books, 2022). Mentioned and reproduced p. 65.

Cleveland Museum of Art, “Major Neoclassical Marble, Rare Korean Sculpture, Other Recent CMA Acquisitions Now on View,” April 16, 1997, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org

Maestá di Roma: Universale ed Eterna,Capitale delle Arte. Electa: Rome, 2003. Fig. XII.10, p. 275.

Whiteley, Jon and Linda Whiteley. "Majesty of Rome." The Burlington Magazine 1205 (Aug. 2003), fig. 83, p. 610, repr. p. 610. 610

Adams, Henry. What's American about American Art? A Gallery Tour in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, 2008. pg. 84-86. 84-86

Cole, Mark. "New Spaces in the Cleveland Museum of Art," American Art 24, no. 2 (Summer 2010).illus. p. 16. 16

Cole, Mark. "The Sleeping Faun." In Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art, edited by David Franklin and C. Griffith Mann. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art; London: Scala, 2012. p. 264; illus. p. 265. 264, illus. 265

Dabakis, Melissa. A Sisterhood of Sculptors: American Artists in Nineteenth-Century Rome. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2014. p. 237, note 76. 237

Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum Masters: 2016-17 Companion Guide. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016. Reproduced: P. 20

Exhibition history

The Art Museum, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 1989-1996.

Scudiere del Quirinale (3/5/2003 - 6/29/2003): "Maestá di Roma, da Napoleon all'Unita d'Italia: Il Mito Classico e Christiano", figure XII.10, p. 275.

Maestá di Roma, da Napoleon all'Unita d'Italia: Universale ed Eterna. Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome, Italy (organizer) (March 5-June 29, 2003).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=The Sleeping Faun|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1997.15|author=Harriet Goodhue Hosmer|year=modeled 1864, carved c. 1870|access-date=03 December 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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The Sleeping Faun

The Sleeping Faun

Harriet Goodhue Hosmer

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