Zenobia in Chains
Maker
Harriet Goodhue Hosmer
(American, 1830 - 1908)
ClassificationsSCULPTURE
Date1859
Mediummarble
Dimensionsheight: 82 × 27 × 33 in. (208.3 × 68.6 × 83.8 cm.)
mount: 58 1/4 × 64 1/4 in. (148 × 163.2 cm.)
DescriptionMarble sculpture of the Syrian queen, Zenobia, depicting a female figure wearing a crown, robe, sandals, a chain and shackles.
Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Purchased with the Virginia Steele Scott Acquisition fund for American Art
Status
On viewLike the ancient queen she sculpted, Hosmer's life was defined by rebellion. In her twenties, she moved to Rome to become a professional sculptor, finding support within a circle of creative expatriot women that included sculptor Edmonia Lewis and actor Charlotte Cushman. These women broke nineteenth-century social expectations by living alone, pursuing artistic careers, and, in the case of Hosmer, being open about her queer identity. When Zenobia was exhibited in the Great London Exposition of 1862, male critics wrote that a woman could not have had the skill or strength to execute such a monumental work. Nonetheless, Hosmer became one of the most successful American sculptors--male or female--of her era.
Object number2007.26
Joseph Goodhue Chandler
ca. 1850
Object number: 2017.5.25
