Lot 155: Samuel de Wilde (British, 1751-1832) Sarah Siddons (née Kemble) (1755–1831), seated at a round table, drawing, she wears jacket with layered short sleeves and lapels, over dress, fichu, ruffle and curled powdered wig

Sarah Siddons (née Kemble) (1755–1831), seated at a round table, drawing, she wears jacket with layered short sleeves and lapels, over dress, fichu, ruffle and curled powdered wig.
Pencil on paper, highlighted with watercolour, signed on the obverse and dated S De Wilde fecit/ 1788, inscribed on the reverse On her 18th Birthday June the 30th 1878/ with all good wishes from her/ Loving Mother/ Augusta De Wilde, laid down on card with original painted mount, gilded wood frame with craved foliate border.
Rectangular, 328mm (12 15/16in) high
Provenance: Augusta de Wilde (née Cater), wife of Henry John De Wilde
Her daughter Gertrude Ford (née de Wilde)
Her granddaughter Irene Bower (née Shambrook)
Her son, the present owner

Sarah Kemble was born in Brecon, Wales, the eldest daughter of Roger Kemble, an actor-manager. In 1773, she married William Siddons, an actor. Her family life was less than fortunate; she gave birth to seven children but outlived five of them, and her marriage became strained and ended in an informal separation.

In 1774, Siddons' performance as Belvidera in Thomas Otway's 'Venice Preserved' brought her to the attention of David Garrick who engaged her to appear at Drury Lane. However, her first appearances were not well received and she was let go by the manager of Drury Lane. From 1777, she worked in provincial companies, gradually building up a reputation, and her next Drury Lane appearance, on 10 October 1782, could not have been more different. She was an immediate sensation playing the title role in Garrick's adaptation of a play by Thomas Southerne, 'Isabella', or, 'The Fatal Marriage'. It was the beginning of twenty years in which she was the undisputed queen of Drury Lane. Her celebrity status has been called "mythical" and "monumental," and by the mid 1780s Siddons was established as a cultural icon.

In 1802 she left Drury Lane and subsequently appeared at Covent Garden. It was there, on 29 June 1812, that she made her last appearance, playing her most famous role, Lady Macbeth. The audience refused to allow the play to continue after the end of the sleepwalking scene. Eventually, after tumultuous applause from the pit, the curtain reopened and Siddons was discovered sitting in her own clothes and character - whereupon she made an emotional farewell speech to the audience lasting eight minutes.

Around the time of the present lot, Siddons was painted by a number of miniaturists, including Cosway, Crosse, Hone and Downman, the features of the sitter in these works can be compared favourably with the present lot.