The Sleeping Faun

modeled 1864, carved c. 1870

sculptor

Harriet Goodhue Hosmer

(American, 1830–1908)

Culture

America

Medium

marble

Measurements

Overall: 127 cm (50 in.)
Weight: 1500 lbs. crated upon arrival at CMA

Credit Line

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1997.15

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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.