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Portrait of Sarah Siddons
Thomas Gainsborough • Painting, 1785, 126×99.5 cm
Description of the artwork «Portrait of Sarah Siddons»
Portrait of Sarah Siddons one of the late masterpieces of Thomas Gainsborough. The famous English tragic actress, who was best known for the role of Lady Macbeth, was a model for many famous artists, including Gainsborough's rival and colleague at the Royal Academy, Joshua Reynolds. However, unlike Reynolds, who loved the dramatic effects, Gainsborough showed a real Sarah to the public.
Gainsborough was best at painting the portraits at his will, not the commissioned ones. The Portrait of Sarah Siddons was one of those. The artist painted the actress not for money, but out of a sense of human sympathy and solidarity. Like Gainsborough, Sarah came from not very wealthy family and have achieved recognition only by her hard work and talent.
Rational Reynolds portrayed Sarah according to all the canons of "high art", as the Muse of Tragedy surrounded by allegorical figures of Crime and Remorse. Whereas Gainsborough trusted not the allegories, but his spontaneous ability to capture and recreate a person's individuality. His version of Portrait of Sarah Siddons did not have a hint of the sitter's acting career, as Gainsborough had little interest in creating a typical image. He was not much interested in her status or social position. It was only human individuality that mattered to him. In Sarah he saw not the actress, but an intelligent and temperamental conversationalist.
We can see a beautiful and strong-willed woman with elegant and slightly predatory profile, who is dressed in a casual striped dress. Her pale yellow scarf and brown fur contrast with the blue ribbons in the decoration of her dress, but her massive black hat with a feather makes even more dramatic contrast against a bright red background. Sarah looks very confident. The look of her brown eyes is sharp and mocking. She clearly knows her worth, though she does not fall to arrogance.
It is curious that the artist faced certain technical difficulty in portraying Sarah's profile. Gainsborough could not render the form realistically, and he good-naturedly grumbled "Bloody nose, there's no end of it!" One of those who later analyzed the Portrait of Sarah Siddons even argued that the whole picture was "built on the noses" - that is, its individual elements repeated the shape of the actress' nose.
Written by Anna Vcherashiaya
Gainsborough was best at painting the portraits at his will, not the commissioned ones. The Portrait of Sarah Siddons was one of those. The artist painted the actress not for money, but out of a sense of human sympathy and solidarity. Like Gainsborough, Sarah came from not very wealthy family and have achieved recognition only by her hard work and talent.
Rational Reynolds portrayed Sarah according to all the canons of "high art", as the Muse of Tragedy surrounded by allegorical figures of Crime and Remorse. Whereas Gainsborough trusted not the allegories, but his spontaneous ability to capture and recreate a person's individuality. His version of Portrait of Sarah Siddons did not have a hint of the sitter's acting career, as Gainsborough had little interest in creating a typical image. He was not much interested in her status or social position. It was only human individuality that mattered to him. In Sarah he saw not the actress, but an intelligent and temperamental conversationalist.
We can see a beautiful and strong-willed woman with elegant and slightly predatory profile, who is dressed in a casual striped dress. Her pale yellow scarf and brown fur contrast with the blue ribbons in the decoration of her dress, but her massive black hat with a feather makes even more dramatic contrast against a bright red background. Sarah looks very confident. The look of her brown eyes is sharp and mocking. She clearly knows her worth, though she does not fall to arrogance.
It is curious that the artist faced certain technical difficulty in portraying Sarah's profile. Gainsborough could not render the form realistically, and he good-naturedly grumbled "Bloody nose, there's no end of it!" One of those who later analyzed the Portrait of Sarah Siddons even argued that the whole picture was "built on the noses" - that is, its individual elements repeated the shape of the actress' nose.
Written by Anna Vcherashiaya
