The most joyful portrait in the collection — a man in ink, seen nearly frontally, his face caught in a broad grin that shows teeth, the expression one of genuine and unguarded delight. The skin is dark — the heavy ink marks at brow, under the eyes, and at the mustache area all suggesting dark skin tones rendered in Sidney's ink vocabulary — and the hair is cropped close to the skull, with a patch of curly texture visible at the crown.
The grin is the compositional and emotional center: the mouth opens wide, both rows of teeth visible, the surrounding mustache marks framing it. The eyes are narrowed slightly with the force of the expression — not squinting but animating, the whole face engaged in the smile. This is not a posed or diplomatic expression but a moment of actual pleasure.
The ink technique is loose and confident — the head outlined in a single continuous stroke, the features built from brief marks that locate nose, eyes, and mouth without overworking them. The ear at left is given characteristic Cothran attention: each fold described, the earlobe's weight visible.
Below the face, the collar of a T-shirt is indicated in a few horizontal marks — a domestic detail that roots this figure in ordinary life. He is wearing a T-shirt. He is laughing. Someone drew him.
Among all the portraits in the collection — the introspective, the dignified, the suffering, the self-possessed — this one is simply happy. Sidney preserved that.