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 instantly identify it with Siddons' most famous acting role - Lady Macbeth. Color Palette: Reynolds uses elements of black and bright orange highlighting through the whole image to accentuate the sitter as the two figures, their facades painted in sweeping shadows, look to blend in with the brown, tempestuous background. The flesh tone is achieved with various layering of whites over carmine and lake madder, with ultramarine and darker blue mixes Siddon's neck and skin in the shadow. Hints of grey are also present for the more prominent shadow areas. Her dress is swathed in an array of delicately mixed