Art Institute of Chicago

Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra

Harriet Hosmer (American, 1830–1908)

Date

modeled c. 1859; carved after 1859

Medium

Marble

Culture

United States

Department

Arts of the Americas

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Zenobia was queen of the Syrian city of Palmyra and ruled it after her husband’s death in the third century. Harriet Hosmer portrayed Zenobia at the moment of her capture and defeat by the Roman emperor Aurelian in 272 CE. Rather than depict a scene of heightened drama, the sculp-tor opted for a quieter sense of grandeur, remarking, “I have tried to make her too proud to exhibit passion or emotion of any kind; not subdued, though a prisoner; but calm, grand, and strong within herself.” Hosmer was the leader of a group of women sculptors in Rome beginning in the 1850s. Many of her works feature strong, independent women drawn from history or literature.

The authoritative record is held by Art Institute of Chicago. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.