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 To Mrs Siddons "To Mrs Siddons" was written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and published in the 29 December 1794 "Morning Chronicle" as part of the "Sonnets on Eminent Characters" series. It describes Sarah Siddons, an actress that Coleridge became fond of during his visits to London during college. The poem celebrates watching Siddons perform her various roles on stage. It is uncertain as to the actual authorship of the poem, since it was attributed to Charles Lamb in various works. It is possible that Lamb and Coleridge worked on the poem together, and it would represent one of Lamb's earliest