Sarah Siddons of feminine propriety. Commissioned and completed in 1784, Sir Joshua Reynolds' portrait, "Sarah Siddons as The Tragic Muse", is characterized by Reynolds' inspiration, contextualisation of the Muse, and distinctive brush work and paint palette. This portrait, as Heather McPherson writes, became the known depiction of tragedy, infused with contemporary ideas about acting and representation of the passions in Siddons' melancholy expression and deportment. Mary Hamilton's correspondence with her fiancé illuminated its seamless transition from "the artist's studio to the theatrical stage", practical venues that interlocked in the eighteenth century and formed a large part in creating the very idea of
To Mrs Siddons Characters" discusses, representatives from the theatre industry was limited to Siddons, as an actress, and Richard Sheridan, a playwright. Although Coleridge writes about her and many people viewed Siddons as an important actress, Siddons had little actual contact or involvement with the Romantic poets beyond knowing Walter Scott and once meeting Lord Byron. The poem refers to various roles that Siddons, as an actress, would have played by discussing plays that she was a member. It is possible that these references are to William Shakespeare's "Macbeth", "Hamlet", or "Richard III" along with Nicholas Rowe's "Tragedy of Jane Shore". Besides the