Charles Beale II's remarkable red-chalk studies of family members and friends, although not intended for a public audience, comprise his most distinguished legacy. Beale's intimate subjects—compelling for their immediacy and for their vigorous cross-hatching in waxy red chalk strengthened with black chalk and graphite—are virtually unique in British art of the late Stuart period and rank among its finest achievements. The present sheet once belonged to a sketchbook (British Museum, London) that is inscribed on the flyleaf, "Charles Beales 3d Book, 1680." It depicts a certain Carter (active 1680–1742), a purveyor of artists' materials, whom Beale drew on several occasions. Here the artist contrasts the tight, incisive strokes of red chalk that describe the contours of the young man's head to the more loosely sketched cravat and shirt, which appear to melt into the expansive white sheet.