Study for Bust of the Madonna

Francis Augustus Lathrop's ink sketch depicts a classical Madonna in profile, her head tilted downward in contemplation. The drawing emphasizes drapery and facial modeling through assured cross-hatching and linear marks. Lathrop, a prominent American designer and sculptor, prepared such studies as preparatory work for monumental sculpture commissions. The sketch demonstrates the technical foundation underlying late-19th-century American neoclassical sculpture—careful attention to anatomy, fabric texture, and emotional restraint characteristic of the period's academic training and aesthetic values.