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Object Details
- Artist
- Harriet Hosmer, born Watertown, MA 1830-died Watertown, MA 1908
- Luce Center Label
- Harriet Hosmer created Puck out of financial necessity when her father could no longer support her in Rome. Literary themes were popular in the nineteenth century, and Hosmer chose the mischievous but adorable fairy from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Puck---or “my son,” as Hosmer called him---was an instant success with the aristocracy, including Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales and the crown princess of Germany, who, upon seeing the work, remarked, “Oh, Miss Hosmer, you have such talent for toes!”
- Luce Object Quote
- “I have another order for Puck; he has already brought me his weight in silver.” Harriet Hosmer, in Cornelia Crow Carr, ed., Harriet Hosmer: Letters and Memories, 1913
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. George Merrill
- modeled 1854, carved 1856
- Object number
- 1918.3.5
- Restrictions & Rights
- CC0
- Type
- Sculpture
- Medium
- marble
- Dimensions
- 30 1/2 x 16 5/8 x 19 5/8 in. (77.5 x 42.1 x 49.9 cm.)
- See more items in
- Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Topic
- Fantasy\winged being
- Figure male\child\nude
- Literature\Shakespeare\Midsummer Night's Dream
- Literature\character\Puck
- Landscape\plant\mushroom
- Record ID
- saam_1918.3.5
- Metadata Usage (text)
- CC0
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk727cd0601-f78c-44fc-8a27-0d656000ed6e
Related Content
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