A near-square pencil portrait — the most intimate format in the portrait sequence, the paper barely wider than the face — in which the model's left-profile fills the sheet at close range. The face is large relative to the paper: the crown of the head reaches the upper margin, the chin and neck approach the lower margin, and the nose in left profile extends nearly to the left edge. This proximity — the face almost escaping the paper on all sides — gives the portrait a pressing immediacy unlike the more spaciously composed portraits of Works 1441, 1443, and 1445.
The drawing has a quality of quick observation: the profile outer contour is drawn with a single confident line, the nose's particular character — a strong bridge, a pronounced tip — captured in the profile's inflection. The eye receives the most marks: dense cross-hatching both above and below the lid, a small concentrated knot of lines at the eye itself, creating a dark focal point within the otherwise spare face. The hair is indicated with several broad strokes sweeping to the right, the mass summarized rather than elaborated. The neck below and the beginning of the shoulder are briefly indicated at the lower edge.
The near-square format — 9.75"×9.5" — is the most unusual paper dimension in the new portrait sequence and may indicate a different paper source or a trimmed sheet. The squareness slightly compresses the usual vertical emphasis of the portrait format, giving the face a slightly heavier presence than it would have on a taller sheet. The eye's dense cross-hatching against the profile's spare line creates the drawing's primary tonal contrast, the eye functioning as an anchor of weight in an otherwise economically drawn face.
This portrait, while less sustained in its observation than Works 1441 and 1445, has a directness and speed that gives it energy. The close proximity of the face to the paper's edges, the strong profile nose, and the knotted eye all suggest a drawing made quickly and with confidence — an impression rather than a study, the face caught rather than constructed. In the context of the portrait sequence, it offers a different tempo from the more measured and tonal portraits that surround it.