Printed from Woolley & Wallis

Description

Attributed to Sir Thomas Lawrence PRA, FRS (1769-1830)
Portrait of the actress Sarah Siddons (1755-1831), wearing a white dress with a red jewel, and a yellow shawl
Oil on canvas
91.5 x 71.2cm; 36 x 28in

Provenance:
Monty Bernard, Ryder Street, St. James's, London;
Christie's, London, 13 June 1952, lot 84 (as Sir Thomas Lawrence, Portrait of Mrs Siddons in a white dress and yellow cloak);
English Private Collection

Literature:
Probably Bells Weekly Messenger, 30 April 1797;
Probably The Morning Chronicle, 2 May 1797;
Probably Anthony Pasquin [John Williams], A Critical Guide to the Present Exhibition at the Royal Academy, for 1797... (H. D. Symonds, London, 1797)

Exhibited:
Probably London, Royal Academy, 1797, no.166

In 1797 Sir Thomas Lawrence exhibited a portrait of the famous actress Sarah Siddons (1755-1831) at the Royal Academy. This work has long been believed to be the one recorded by Kenneth Garlick as being in a private collection (see Kenneth Garlick, Sir Thomas Lawrence: A Complete Catalogue of Oil Paintings, 1989, p.264, no.715b). However, there are several inconsistencies between contemporary accounts of the picture at the Royal Academy exhibition of 1797, and that listed by Garlick. In fact, the painting presented here appears more likely to be the 1797 R.A. version portrait of Siddons.

Contemporary accounts of the 1797 painting described it as a full length work (for example Bell' Weekly Messenger, op. cit.). However, the painting listed by Garlick is a half-length, whereas the present work has clearly been cut down from a larger canvas. Another contemporary account said that the canvas was disfigured, and resembled the inside of a melon (quoted in William T. Whitley, Artists and their friends in England, 1700-1799 (London, Medici Society, 1928, vol.2, p.214). It is impossible to know exactly what this refers to, however, the background of the present work has an unusual 'veined' texture which could plausibly be compared to a melon. This texture becomes more prominent in the lower section of the work, and would explain why the canvas was cut down.

When the portrait was exhibited in 1797, it divided the critics. Some thought it showed Siddons far younger than in reality. Anthony Pasquin (op. cit.) said that 'It is no more like her than Hebe is similar to Bellona. We have here youth, flexibility of feature, and an attempt at the formation of beauty, to denote a lady who is so proverbially stern in her countenance that it approaches savageness'. Although the True Briton praised the portrait, it thought the dress too showy and of a fabric too modern. Pasquin also mentions the unusually red cheeks, that 'are so betinted with carmine'. All these contemporary comments seem to be more relevant to the present work, than that listed by Garlick, a work in which Siddons looks older and sterner, in a more traditional costume.

Sarah Siddons was probably the best known actress of her generation. Her performances on the stage gave her a celebrity status, and she was a cultural icon. Lawrence had been an admirer of Siddons since his youth, and they became close friends, to the extent that there were rumours they planned to elope. He was also believed to have had affairs with Siddons' two daughters, Sally and Maria.