Harriet Goodhue HosmerAmerican, 1830–1908Puck
May one see it?
Unknown: the museum keeps its counsel
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Washington, D.C., United States
The owner is known. Whether it is on view today, the museum does not say, and we were not trained to guess.
- In this state since
- Sep 25, 2026
- Source
- The museum's own collection data
About the sculpture
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!”
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- 1918.3.5
What it shows
Sources
- Smithsonian American Art Museum: the museum's own open data · fetched 3 days ago
- Image: Smithsonian American Art Museum — CC0
