A frontal bust-length portrait in blue ballpoint ink — the face broad and square, the eyes looking directly out, the gaze carrying the weight of full frontal confrontation. The brow is heavy, one eyebrow slightly raised, the nose broad, the lips set in a neutral expression that is neither welcoming nor hostile but simply present. A heavier-set man, the face filling the composition's center.
The blue ballpoint handles this broader face differently from the self-portrait of 1362 — where that face had the precision of careful self-observation, this one is drawn with slightly more urgency, the marks building the face's volume through repeated strokes rather than single clean lines. The neck and chin area in particular is built up with several passes, establishing the fullness of the jaw.
The collar and shirt below are drawn with the same specificity as throughout this sketchbook group — the placket, the button, the suggestion of a jacket collar at the shoulder. The ear at the right is drawn with Cothran ear-precision: the helix curve, the inner structures briefly noted. The shaved or close-cropped head is described with minimal marks at the crown.
In the context of the ink portrait sequence, this frontal direct-gaze male portrait connects to the Bald Man (1044), the laughing man (877), and the other male portraits scattered through the collection. Sidney's consistent interest in the male face — looking directly out, unposed — runs from the earliest portrait drawings to this late sketchbook work.