A pencil portrait of haunting formal power — a figure seen nearly frontally, their face framed by a large, loose hood or headscarf that falls on both sides, the fabric creating a frame-within-the-frame around the face. The hood is the most unusual head covering in the entire portrait collection: not a hat with a defined form, but a soft fabric shape that frames the face while remaining organic and unfixed.
The face within the hood is drawn with the most tonal pencil work of any portrait in this group — the shadow under the brows, around the eyes, at the cheekbones all built from multiple overlapping passes. The resulting face has genuine three-dimensionality: this is a face seen in light, not just described from memory.
At the neckline, a bow — the same bow element as portrait 1071 — drawn with careful attention to the knot and the falling loops. The hands appear at the lower composition, resting or folded, each finger individually indicated.
The overall effect is simultaneously intimate and slightly mysterious: the face within the hood has the quality of an icon, the framing fabric creating a formal presentation that transcends the casual life study. This may be a copy after a work — the formal quality suggests a studied source — but whatever its origin, Sidney's attention was total.