One of America's first professional female sculptors, Harriet Hosmer met Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning in Rome in 1853. The Brownings, both well-known English poets, had eloped to Italy seven years earlier. Shortly after meeting the couple, Hosmer approached them about modeling their hands. Mrs. Browning consented to the sculptor's idea on the condition that Hosmer do the casting herself. Hosmer later explained that these hands were left exactly as they came from the mold because she wanted to preserve the textural quality of the work. The identity of each clasped hand is discernible by the differences in size as well as the treatment of the cuff at each wrist.

• Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

  Signature: [on end of his wrist]: HANDS - OF - ROBERT / AND / Elizabeth Barrett Browning / cast By / Harriet Hosmer / Rome 1853
  
  Inscription: [on end of her wrist]: Copyright

• Provenance

  Kennedy Galleries, New York, until 1986

• Timeline of Art History (2000–present)
  Thematic Essays

  American Neoclassical Sculptors Abroad

  Timelines

  The United States and Canada, 1800–1900 A.D.
• MetPublications
  American Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1, A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born before 1865 (1999)

  Perspectives on American Sculpture Before 1925 (2003)