Sketches for Faith
Medium
figures
Classification
figures
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Accession Number
1914-38-70
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
Francis Augustus Lathrop (1849–1909), an American artist of the late 19th century, produced these *Sketches for Faith* in 1893–94. Classified as figures, the works consist of studies of human forms that served as preparatory explorations for a larger composition on the theme of Faith. Created during a period of expanding American artistic ambition, such sketches were vital to developing allegorical or decorative subjects common at the time. They reveal an artist’s process of capturing gesture, expression, and pose before committing to a finished painting or design. Now in the Smithsonian Ame...