• October 9, 1830 Born Harriet Goodhue Hosmer in Watertown, Massachusetts.
  • 1849 Hosmer completes education at Mrs. Sedgwick’s School in Lenox, Massachusetts where she was influenced by some of the most progressive women artists and intellectuals of the mid-nineteenth century, including Fanny Kemble and Harriet Martineau.
  • Fall 1850 Travels to St. Louis to visit Cornelia Crow, her friend from Mrs. Sedgwick’s School and daughter of the future founder of Washington University, Wayman Crow.
  • November 6, 1850 Enrolls in anatomy classes at Missouri Medical College. She was previously denied admittance to medical schools on the east coast.
  • Summer 1851 Returns to Watertown after completion of anatomy certification, making her the first woman to have studied anatomy at what later became known as the Washington University School of Medicine.
  • 1851-52 At work in her home studio, Hosmer completes medallion as a gift for Dr. McDowell of Missouri Medical College. Other works completed during this time period include a bust of Napoleon for her father, and the idealizing bust of Hesper, 1852 (mythological maiden of the Evening Star) her first original work, inspired by the imagery in Tennyson’s poem In Memoriam.
  • September 1852 Hosmer leaves for Rome and arrives November 12. She sets up residence in the home of actress Charlotte Cushman, along with Matilda Hayes and Sara Jane Clark (pen name Grace Greenwood). Shortly after Hosmer’s arrival, she persuades English neoclassical sculptor John Gibson to train her as his pupil. Working in his studio, she immediately begins her academic training by copying masterpieces in order to develop her skill.
  • 1853 Completes Daphne, her first original work in Rome. Makes two copies: one for public display in Gibson’s studio, the other for the Crow family.
  • 1854 Completes companion piece, or pendant to Daphne, entitled Medusa. Later would be sent to Boston for exhibition, after which it would become property of Samuel Appleton.
  • 1854-55 Completes Oenone, commissioned by Wayman Crow. This is Hosmer’s first full-length, life-size figure. She developed the idea for this work after reading Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem Oenone (1832, then revised in 1842).
  • Summer 1855 Models Puck, the sculpture that would ultimately bring her the most money and fame of all her works when purchased in 1859 by the Prince of Wales (Edward VII).
  • 1856 Completes Beatrice Cenci, commissioned by Alfred Vinton, chairman of board of directors of St. Louis Mercantile Library, probably under the persuasion of Wayman Crow. The same year, receives invitation to exhibit Beatrice Cenci at the Royal Academy in London the following spring.
  • Spring 1858 Nathaniel Hawthorne visits Gibson’s studio in Rome where he meets Hosmer. Hereafter, Hawthorne and his family visit Hosmer frequently. He later mentions the sculptor and Zenobia in the preface to The Marble Faun, published 1860.
  • Summer 1864 Takes her sculpture Zenobia in Chains to New York for exhibition where it is purchased by New Yorker Almon Griswold. Hosmer leaves for Rome November 16, 1864, after which Zenobia opens at Childs and Jenks Gallery in Boston with record-breaking attendance.
  • December 1864 Hosmer’s article “The Process of Sculpture” is printed in Atlantic Monthly. In this article, Hosmer explains the sculptural process step-by-step in an effort to refute rumors claiming that skilled male assistants did her work for her.
  • May 27, 1868 Bronze statue of Thomas Hart Benton is unveiled in Lafayette Park in St. Louis.
  • June 18, 1868 Portrait bust of Wayman Crow is presented to Crow as a gift at the Washington University commencement ceremonies.
  • 1885 Wayman Crow, Hosmer’s friend and most faithful patron, dies.
  • 1893 Isabella of Castille, commissioned by the Chicago suffragist group the Daughters of Isabella, is exhibited at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
  • February 21, 1908 Hosmer dies in Watertown.


    Jodi Kovach
    MA 2003