Sketch for a Portrait of Bella Worsham

Daniel Huntington's preparatory sketch demonstrates the working methods of nineteenth-century academic portraiture. The artist explores two studies of a standing female figure in elegant dress, testing compositional arrangements and drapery. The loose, assured pen line captures anatomical structure beneath fabric, while varied hatching suggests volume and texture. Such working sketches were essential to studio practice, allowing artists to resolve pose and gesture before committing to finished canvas. Huntington, a prominent American painter trained in Düsseldorf and Rome, maintained this traditional approach throughout his career as both portraitist and historical painter.