Study of a Right Hand

Daniel Huntington's anatomical study exemplifies the academic training essential to nineteenth-century American painters. This careful pencil drawing documents the artist's investigation of human form—a foundational practice in studio practice. Huntington, a prolific muralist and portraitist, maintained the classical discipline of working from life and from the antique. Such studies, accumulated over years of practice, served as visual reference material for the grand historical and literary compositions that defined his career. The directness and economy of line reveal the working method of a trained draftsman engaged in the practical labor of artistic mastery.