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G0742
Paintings: G0742
Title
Sarah Siddons
Technique
Oil on canvas
Subject
Character
Lady Macbeth : Macbeth
Artist
Dimensions
Height: 61cm
Width: 38cm
height (frame): 72cm
width (frame): 49.5cm
Width: 38cm
height (frame): 72cm
width (frame): 49.5cm
Provenance
Charles Mathews
Other number
Mathews 147
RW/CKA 31
RW/CKA 31
Exhibition history
1833 London, Queen's Bazaar, Oxford Street, "Mr Mathews's Gallery of Theatrical Portraits" (147)
1964 London, Guildhall Art Gallery, "Shakespeare and the Theatre" (35)
1975 London, Hayward Gallery, "The Georgian Playhouse" (100)
1997 London, Dulwich Picture Gallery, "Dramatic Art
Theatrical Paintings from the Garrick Club" (8)
1992 Essen, Villa Hügel "London 1800-1838" (31)
Related works
Original: Bob Jones University, S. Carolina oil on canvas 231.1 x 144.8, exh: B. I. 1814 (93)
Engraving history
C. Rolls for the “Literary Souvenir” pub. Longman November 1829, line 11.5 x 7
Literature
Griffiths p. 327
The moment illustrated is Act I, scene 5. Lady Macbeth holds Macbeth's letter in her left hand across her chest. She wears a short-sleeved overdress of dark red velvet with a brown underskirt, and has a red drapery round her shoulders. Under her chin is a white Siddonian wimple. A stormy night sky suits the drama of the moment. See also G0748.
Lady Macbeth was the role associated most closely with Sarah Siddons, from her first appearance in London in the part on 2 February 1785, until her last official appearance on the stage, at Covent Garden on 22 June 1812, when the audience would not allow the play to continue after the sleep walking scene. In the famous words of William Hazlitt in "The Examiner” on 16 June 1816, as an actress: “She raised the tragedy to the skies… It was something above nature. We can conceive of nothing grander… She was Tragedy, personified.”
Harlow charged 20 guineas for this sort of small full-length. It is likely that G0742 and G0743 were commissioned directly from the artist by Mathews, a close friend and patron (see G0471). For details about the provenance of the original at Bob Jones University, see BD 14: 60-61.
Lady Macbeth was the role associated most closely with Sarah Siddons, from her first appearance in London in the part on 2 February 1785, until her last official appearance on the stage, at Covent Garden on 22 June 1812, when the audience would not allow the play to continue after the sleep walking scene. In the famous words of William Hazlitt in "The Examiner” on 16 June 1816, as an actress: “She raised the tragedy to the skies… It was something above nature. We can conceive of nothing grander… She was Tragedy, personified.”
Harlow charged 20 guineas for this sort of small full-length. It is likely that G0742 and G0743 were commissioned directly from the artist by Mathews, a close friend and patron (see G0471). For details about the provenance of the original at Bob Jones University, see BD 14: 60-61.
