Sketch of Figures Bearing a Cross

Francis Augustus Lathrop's preparatory sketch depicts a processional scene of multiple figures carrying or supporting a large cross. The composition employs rapid, gestural linework to establish movement and spatial relationships among the figures arranged across the composition. Rather than a finished work, this drawing reveals the artist's working method—overlapping forms, varied line weight, and repeated studies of poses and drapery folds indicate exploration of the scene's narrative and formal balance. Lathrop, a prominent American decorator and muralist of the 1890s, often worked from such studies before executing larger decorative schemes and public commissions.