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
Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse fabric. The dress has looser, broader strokes as well as her shirt folds, which contain strong dashes of white strokes haphazardly applied around her arm with light brown and grey intermixed for the play of shadow in the folds to create depth. These strokes are both loose and light. Soft, rounded strokes are used for the perilous clouds that gather around the actress' feet with rounded lines in red-orange for dramatic effect. The same bright orange can be seen in the drapery over her lap as well and in the allegorical figures. These figures have smooth soft lines to make