Sarah Siddons
Listen to ArtMuse's episode on the famed English tragic actress and muse, Sarah Siddons. She was the most famous tragic actress of the Georgian age, with performances so powerful that several members of her audience fainted with fear. Over her forty-year long career she captured the hearts of all of England, including the King and Queen, who welcomed her into their Royal court. She was painted by some of the greatest masters of art history, including Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough, and George Romney, using her portraits to promote her self-image. Though she was known for her tragic roles on the stage, she persevered through personal tragedies off the stage as well, outliving five of her seven children and suffering from multiple miscarriages.
This episode honors Sarah as the remarkable woman she was; as the actress with performances so powerful that her audience sobbed, howled, and fainted, as the cultural icon who came to define the Georgian age, as the savvy publicist who carefully crafted her own self-image by collaborating with artists on her portraits, and as the fierce and protective mother who held her head high in the face of unimaginable loss and grief.
This episode is produced by Kula Production Company.
REFERENCES
Asleson, Robyn, editor. A Passion for Performance: Sarah Siddons and Her Portraitists. J. Paul Getty Museum, 1999.
Willett, Jo. Sarah Siddons: The First Celebrity Actress. Pen & Sword History, 2024.
IMAGES
Portrait of David Garrick by Thomas Gainsborough, 1770
Thomas Beach, Portrait of Sarah Siddons, 1781.
Thomas Beach, Portrait of Mrs. Siddons in the character of Melancholy from Milton's 'Il Penseroso', 1782.
William Hamilton, Sarah Siddons as Isabella from ‘The Fatal Marriage’, 1782.
Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mrs Siddons as the Tragic Muse, 1789.
George Romney, Sarah Siddons, 1782.
Thomas Gainsborough, Portrait of Mrs Sarah Siddons, 1785.
Thomas Beach, Sarah Siddons as Lady Macbeth, 1786.
Gilbert Stuart, Sarah Siddons, 1787.
John Downman, Sarah Siddons, 1787.
