The most boldly drawn portrait in the new portfolio — a large-format (14"×17") ink study of a face in three-quarter view, the head nearly filling the sheet, drawn with what appears to be a brush or broad-nib pen producing thick, variable-width lines. The face is that of a young man or a woman with a strong, rounded face — the eyes forward-looking and both described with the same dense specificity, the brows above heavy, the nose broad and specifically shaped, the lips below drawn with attention to the upper lip's curve. The hair is arranged in a loose upswept mass at the crown, described with several bold strokes. The neck below is thick, the shoulders briefly indicated at the lower margin.
The ink is applied with a decisiveness and boldness unlike the pen portraits (1443, 1444) or the dip-pen figure studies: the outer contour of the face is a single heavy line, the shadow marks at the cheek and beneath the nose are built in broader hatching strokes, the eyes are described with marks that carry genuine weight. This is ink used as a drawing tool rather than a drafting tool — the line's variation in width (thick at the outer contour, thinner at the interior marks) suggests a flexible-nib or brush application. The warm tan paper gives the ink a richness that white paper would not.
The forward gaze — both eyes looking directly at the viewer from the three-quarter orientation — makes this the most confrontational portrait in the collection. Unlike the profile portraits of 1443 and 1444, unlike the downward-gazing portraits of 1441 and 1445, this face meets the viewer directly, the eyes alert and present. The boldness of the ink line amplifies the directness of the gaze: everything about this portrait asserts rather than suggests.
The 14"×17" format is the largest portrait-specific sheet in the new portfolio and one of the largest single-face images in the collection. The scale, the bold ink, the direct gaze, and the warm ground combine to make this one of the most powerful portraits Sidney produced — an image that announces itself without apology. The top edge of the paper has some damage or foxing, visible in the photograph, which should be noted in condition assessment.