A figure study focused exclusively on the lower body — hips to feet — seen in pure profile. The composition begins at the very top with the outstretched hand and wrist of a raised arm, then the hip curves downward, the single visible leg descends, and the composition ends at the foot with the toes individually and carefully described.
This is a study of the body from pelvis to foot — the zone that Sidney often left undescribed in the portrait drawings where the face is the primary subject. Here those lower elements are the exclusive focus. The hand at the top — fingers extended and open — and the foot at the bottom — toes splayed on the ground — frame the composition's vertical extent.
The foot is the most carefully described element: each toe rendered individually, the shadow under the sole indicated, the weight of the foot on the surface visible in how the flesh spreads. This is Sidney's most sustained foot observation, surpassing even the careful feet in the Dancer's Bow and The Student.
The leg's straight descent from hip to foot is rendered with a single confident contour mark on each side, the tonal buildup at the knee and calf suggesting the leg's three-dimensionality without laboring it.