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A Study of Thomas Gainsborough's Portrait Of The Welsh Actress Sarah Siddons

About the Item

A charming later Victorian textured canvas applied to wood, study of Thomas Gainsborough's three-quarter portrait of the Welsh actress Sarah Siddons, presented in a period Ebonized carved wood with gilt wood inner frame. Mrs Siddons (1755–1831) was the greatest tragic actress of her time, remaining at the top of her profession for 30 years. Gainsborough painted her in the winter of 1784–5, during her third London season. Most of Mrs Siddons’s earlier portraits depict her in character, but Gainsborough portrayed her off-stage and in fashionable contemporary dress. She wears a black beaver hat trimmed with ribbon and ostrich feathers, and a blue striped ‘wrapping-gown’, yellow mantle and fox-fur muff. Gainsborough apparently found some difficulty in capturing Mrs Siddons’s distinctive features, and is said to have exclaimed: ‘Confound the nose, there’s no end to it!’ At the time Gainsborough painted her, Mrs Siddons was playing the greatest of all her roles, Lady Macbeth. Sarah Simmons was born in Brecon, Wales, to a family of theater professionals. After marrying actor William Siddons at the age of 18, she traveled the country with a small acting troupe. She finally won public admiration with her performance at the Theatre Royal in Bath, where her Lady Macbeth was widely acclaimed as an outstanding achievement.
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 16.75 in (42.55 cm)Width: 14.5 in (36.83 cm)Depth: 1.25 in (3.18 cm)
  • Style:
    Late Victorian (Of the Period)
  • Materials and Techniques:
  • Place of Origin:
  • Period:
  • Date of Manufacture:
    1890’s
  • Condition:
    Wear consistent with age and use. In good antique condition. The canvas has two minute losses. The frame with a few chips and mares requisite with age and use.
  • Seller Location:
    New Orleans, LA
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU6628243493192

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