While working on her statue Oenone, Harriet Hosmer received a commission for which she carved Beatrice Cenci.ⁱ When this sculpture was near completion, she wrote to friend and patron Wayman Crow, saying, “I am not afraid to say that it beats the Oenone which I wish were better for your sake.”ⁱⁱ The commission came from the enigmatic “Mr. V,” or Mr. Alfred Vinton, chairman of the board of directors of the St. Louis Mercantile Library, upon the suggestion of Hosmer’s strongest supporter, Wayman Crow. For a long time Hosmer was convinced the mysterious patron was in fact Wayman Crow, but on the realization of Mr. Vinton’s authentic identity she wrote in a letter to Crow:

So he is not a myth! Well, then you are his inspirer, and if I should have an order from the Poles, I should be persuaded that somehow or other you had a hand in it. Between ourselves, I am going to make him a statue of Beatrice Cenci…ⁱⁱⁱ

Beatrice Cenci marks Hosmer’s first departure from classical subject matter. Hosmer based this sculpture on the story of a young Italian heroine from the Middle Ages who was sentenced to death and was executed for planning the murder of her criminally abusive father. After the murder was carried out, Beatrice Cenci, her step-mother and younger brother quietly disposed of the body of the man who had brutalized the son physically and had abused both the women physically and sexually. When their crime was discovered, the town officials were aware of the abuse the father had inflicted upon the family and understood the killing was an act of self-defense. However, the papal authority manipulated the situation to take advantage of an opportunity to seize the property of the Cenci family. After the convictions and executions of the remaining Cenci family members, the land was ceded to the Church.^iv

The story of Beatrice Cenci had been brought to public attention by the historian Jean-Charles Sismondi with the publication of his Histoire des républiques italiennes du moyen age (History of the Italian Republics of the Middle Ages), and was sensationalized in various subsequent texts for its violent and gratuitous content.^v Hosmer’s portrayal of Beatrice Cenci, however, reveals a young woman in a state of tranquil contemplation in spite of the hideous past she was forced to endure. She is shown reclined on a narrow prisoner’s bench, but rests her head gently on a soft, luxurious pillow. Although she faces execution for her violent crime, she appears thoughtful and pious as she gazes at the rosary in her left hand. With this sculpture, Hosmer was not simply maintaining the characteristic grace and idealized beauty of ancient Greek sculpture. Instead she manipulated characteristics of the style as tools of expression for the content of her sculpture. In the case of Beatrice Cenci, the elegance and restrained emotion of the neoclassical style reinforce the confidence of this historical figure who has victoriously confronted her tragic past and imminent demise.


ⁱ Harriet Hosmer, Letters and Memories, ed. Cornelia Carr (New York: Moffat Yard and Company, 1912), 39-40, 42.
ⁱⁱ Ibid., 79.
ⁱⁱⁱ Ibid., 39-40.
^iv Dolly Sherwood, Harriet Hosmer, American Sculptor, 1830-1908 (Columbia & London: University of Missouri Press, 1991), 129-130.
^v Ibid., 130.


Jodi Kovach
MA 2003