Mrs. Sheppard Gandy Seated

Daniel Huntington's portrait study captures a fashionably dressed woman in mid-nineteenth-century attire, rendered in graphite with selective blue chalk accents. The sketch demonstrates Huntington's practiced approach to figure drawing—loose, assured linework establishing form and drapery while preserving the spontaneity of a preparatory work. The wide-brimmed hat, fitted bodice, and voluminous skirts reflect period silhouettes. This drawing likely served as preparation for a finished portrait commission, revealing the artist's working method before final oil painting. Huntington, a prominent American portraitist of the era, maintained a prolific studio practice that included both formal commissions and these intimate sketch studies.