Study of a Bust of a Child (from a plaster cast)

Leon Dabo's graphite study captures the three-quarter profile of a classical plaster cast, likely after a Greco-Roman original. The artist renders the soft modeling of the child's face with careful attention to light and shadow, the hair's texture suggested through delicate hatching. This academic exercise—copying plaster casts—formed the foundation of late-nineteenth-century art training. Young artists studied antique sculpture to master form, proportion, and the effects of light before progressing to live models. Dabo's precise technique exemplifies the disciplined draftsmanship expected in atelier practice, where such studies served both as learning tools and as proof of technical competence. The worn condition of the paper documents the drawing's age and use.