A portrait of unusual energy and directness — a woman seen nearly frontally, her expression one of intensity bordering on confrontation. The eyes are wide, the brow slightly lowered, the overall expression alert and forceful. But the most distinctive element is the hand at lower left: a raised fist with the index finger extended, pointing at something just outside the left edge of the composition. This pointing gesture is the only directed action in all of Sidney's portrait drawings — every other portrait subject is simply present, simply being; this one is directing, indicating, insisting.
The ink technique is Sidney's boldest in the portrait series — the thickest lines, the heaviest pressure at the shadow areas under the chin and around the collar, the most aggressive rendering of the hair. This is a figure who demands the same energy from the drawing that she projects from the pose.
The hair hangs loose on both sides, drawn with multiple sweeping strokes. The shoulders and upper body are described more fully than in most of the portraits — the viewer sees not just the head but the upper body engaged in the gesture of pointing, the whole torso involved in the act of indication.
What is she pointing at? The answer is outside the frame, which gives the portrait its openness and its tension. Sidney drew the person and the gesture but withheld the object of the gesture. We share her urgency without knowing its cause.