The "ghosting" of incest and female relations in Harriet Hosmer's Beatrice Cenci

A missile on the statue's base with an devoid of contents loop attached to it is the sole visual clue to Cenci's location in a prison, on the contrary the fact that she is not "chained" to it indicates her emotional immobility (she will not flee) and her actual innocence. An imaginary line visually associates two objects on the same plane at the base of the statue: the manacle and the cross--one circular the other composed of perpendicular lines; individual standing for imprisonment, the other for release from earthly prisons, be they literal, emotional, or faith-based. Beatrice remains linked to the rosary, with its promise of salvation, on the other hand the absent chain metaphorically retains her enclosed in her emotional, physical, and spiritual space. The manacle ring is without contents because the chain is replaced through the other chain, the rosary, which present the appearances to weigh down her hand more than an actual rosary should. It is the surrogate chain, more powerful than the iron individual because it is the agent of the two her imprisonment (the Church) and her release (her faith).