The face nearly fills the entire canvas, leaving only a narrow area in dark purple as contrast with the essentially grey tones. Though the features are predominately male, we are left to ponder the sex and age of the person, who appears from the darkness as if awakening from a deep sleep, or emerging into the light from a fathomless realm. The sense that the face is a mask of stone or plaster is somewhat thwarted by the 'fleshy' quality of the lips and the large triangular shaped nose. Though lacking definition in the eyes, they are nonetheless expressive, and present an illusion of being open and closed at the same time. Sharp creases in the skin and the multidimensional shading present a brooding intensity-- of someone who has witnessed secrets too profound to reveal.