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 (horse) Siddons was the first of only three foals produced by Mariel, a high-class mare who won the Pretty Polly Stakes, and was placed in the Irish 1000 Guineas, Epsom Oaks and Irish Oaks. Mariel's dam Ela Marita won the Fred Darling Stakes and the Musidora Stakes and was a half-sister to Ragusa. The filly, named after the great actress Sarah Siddons, was sent into training with the veteran Paddy Prendergast at his stables near the Curragh in Ireland. On her racecourse debut she started favourite in a seven furlong event for previously unraced horses at Phoenix Park Racecourse in October.