Sketch of Right Hand for Portrait of Mrs. Kennedy

Daniel Huntington's preparatory study exemplifies nineteenth-century academic practice, where artists developed individual passages through careful observation before executing finished portraits. This delicate graphite sketch of a hand demonstrates the technical discipline required for society portraiture during the Gilded Age. Such studies—often preserved in studio records—reveal the deliberate construction underlying seemingly effortless refinement. Huntington, a leading figure in American portraiture and founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, maintained rigorous standards of anatomical accuracy and social grace in depicting his prominent sitters. The notation in the upper left corner documents the work's purpose within his larger compositional process.