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
Frederick Lincoln Siddons for the District of Columbia. On December 9, 1914, Siddons was nominated by President Woodrow Wilson to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia vacated by Daniel Thew Wright. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 15, 1915, and received his commission the same day, serving until his death, in Washington, D.C. In 1927, Justice Siddons was involved in declaring a mistrial at one stage of the Teapot Dome affair, “the largest scandal in the U.S. government since the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant.” Siddons died on June 19, 1931,