A bearded man gazes upward, his eyes wide and glistening with reflected light. His head tilts slightly back, exposing the full length of his forehead and the arch of his brows, which are furrowed in an expression of intense emotion. The skin of his face is rendered with warm, earthy tones, and the brushwork captures the subtle variations in color across his cheeks, temples, and nose.

His long, flowing beard dominates the lower half of the composition, painted with loose, textured strokes that suggest both softness and age. The background is a deep, almost impenetrable darkness, pushing the illuminated face and beard forward and creating a dramatic contrast. Light falls from above and to the left, catching the top of his head, the bridge of his nose, and the upper edge of his beard, while the rest of his figure dissolves into shadow.

The man's mouth is slightly open, as if caught in a moment of speech or silent awe, and his lips are painted with a delicate touch. His ear, visible on the left, is tinged with red, adding to the sense of lifelike immediacy. The composition is tightly cropped, focusing entirely on the head and upper chest, so that the viewer is confronted directly with the sitter's emotional state.

The paint surface shows visible brushstrokes, especially in the beard and background, lending a sense of movement and vitality to the study. No secondary figures or objects are visible in the composition, which is entirely focused on the man's head and beard. The background is painted in a deep, uneven black, with subtle variations in tone and visible brush marks especially near the upper left corner.

Light creates a strong highlight along the bald crown and upper forehead, while the lower right edge of the beard is bathed in a golden glow. The paint is applied more thinly and smoothly on the man's scalp and cheeks, with thicker, more textured strokes defining the beard and the shadowed areas around the face. Cabeza de San Antonio, estudio is the work of Joaquín Sorolla, as given in the title line.