A full standing figure drawing — from crown to feet — in the most economical pencil handling of any complete standing figure. The figure stands in three-quarter view, one arm crossing in front, the head slightly turned so a partial profile is visible. The overall posture has a quality of self-containment: the arm crossing the body creating an internal gesture, the head turned away from direct engagement.
The drawing is notable for what it does not do: most elements are established with single strokes, the volume implied rather than built up. The shoulder blades, the waist, the hip — each zone described in the minimum marks needed to locate the form without describing it completely. The head at the top is the least described element: a rounded form with the partial profile barely indicated.
At the lower composition, the feet are the most resolved elements: both feet visible, the weight distribution of the standing figure apparent through the feet's position. This inversion — the head less described than the feet — is characteristic of Sidney's sustained interest in the extremities as the most observable elements of the standing figure.
The vastness of the white paper surrounding the lean standing figure gives the composition an unusual openness — the figure exists in a large and empty space, its arm crossed gesture a private accommodation to that emptiness.