John Singer Sargent made this drawing, Study of a Hand, at an unknown date, using graphite on paper. Sargent, an American artist who spent much of his life in Europe, worked during a time when portraiture was a display of class and status. In the context of Sargent’s oeuvre, this study humanizes both artist and sitter. The artist’s practice of drawing the human form is here distilled to an essential element. The hand is a tool, a way to reach out and touch the world. Consider what stories a hand can tell - is it a working hand, gnarled from labor, or a soft, pampered hand? This drawing may appear to be simply a technical study, but I see in it the potential for connection and understanding, a quiet acknowledgement of our shared humanity.