The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 22, 2024

The Sleeping Faun

The Sleeping Faun

modeled 1864, carved c. 1870
(American, 1830–1908)
Overall: 127 cm (50 in.)

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.
  • 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.)
  • 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
  • Maestá di Roma, da Napoleon all'Unita d'Italia: Universale ed Eterna. Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome, Italy (organizer) (March 5-June 29, 2003).
    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.
  • {{cite web|title=The Sleeping Faun|url=false|author=Harriet Goodhue Hosmer|year=modeled 1864, carved c. 1870|access-date=22 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1997.15