A red chalk figure drawing notable for the most direct gaze in the life drawing series — the model seated, looking directly at Sidney and by extension at the viewer, the face frontal and the expression one of steady, neutral assessment. This is the rarest event in the life drawing collection: a model who is looking back.
The figure is seen from a slight angle — the body three-quarter, the shoulders and chest tilted, but the face turned directly forward. The hair is brushed back simply, the face unframed by the hair masses that characterize the portrait drawings. The eyes, drawn with brow and lash marks, look directly outward.
The body from neck to lower composition is described with the characteristic sanguine economy: the chest, the waist, the crossed legs below. The hands rest in the lap, briefly indicated. The overall figure is complete and balanced — the direct gaze giving it an unusual sense of mutual presence between artist and model.
Most life drawing sessions proceed with the model deliberately not meeting the artist's eye. When this model did — and Sidney recorded it — the drawing became something more than a figure study. It became an encounter.