Lot 91: Portrait of the actress Sarah Siddons, née Kemble (1755-1831), half-length, in a white dress and blue sash, and a white cap

After Sir Thomas Lawrence
Portrait of the actress Sarah Siddons, née Kemble (1755-1831), half-length, in a white dress and blue sash, and a white cap
oil on canvas
30 x 25 in. (76.2 x 63.5 cm.)

After the original of 1798, in Tate Britain, London. There is also a full-length portrait of the sitter, 1804, by Lawrence in the collection at Tate Britain. Most famously, Sarah Siddons was painted as the Tragic Muse by Sir Joshua Reynolds, now in the Dulwich Picture Gallery.

Sarah Siddons (née Kemble) (1755-1831), was the eldest of the twelve children of the actor and theatre manager Roger Kemble (1722-1802). In 1773 she married the actor William Siddons (1744-1808). She was widely acclaimed as the greatest tragic actress of her day, and her brother, John Philip Kemble (1757-1823), was the most important actor and manager of his time.