Sarah Siddons (née Kemble) ('Mrs Siddons with the Emblems of Tragedy')

William Beechey painted Sarah Siddons with the Emblems of Tragedy around 1793, depicting the greatest tragic actress of the Georgian period — who had been immortalized in Reynolds's 1784 portrait as the Tragic Muse — in a more formal portrait mode than Reynolds's dramatic composition. Siddons was the definitive performer of Shakespeare's tragic heroines — Lady Macbeth, Volumnia, Constance — and her portraits by the leading painters of the period testified to the cultural status of theatrical performance in Georgian society. Beechey's version shows the actress in her prime with the composed dignity of her public persona, the emblems of tragedy signaling her professional identity within a formal portrait framework.

Beechey surrounds his sitter with the emblems of tragedy—dagger and cup—while maintaining a portrait likeness. The dark palette and dramatic lighting complement the theatrical subject, with careful rendering of the sitter's expressive features.