Three Studies of a Left Hand

Francis Augustus Lathrop, American painter and illustrator (1849–1909), produced this anatomical study in pen and ink during the 1890s. The sheet demonstrates three distinct poses of a single left hand—relaxed, grasping, and extended—rendered with careful attention to form and shadow. Such studies were fundamental to artistic training and professional illustration practice. Lathrop worked across book design, murals, and commercial art during a period when rigorous figure drawing remained essential to American artistic education and practice.