Portrait of Sarah Siddons attributed to William Hamilton, ca. 1784.

Oil sketch of the actress Sarah Siddons, her face emerging from a neutral brown background.

Bequeathed by Rev. Alexander Dyce

Bequeathed to the Department of Science and Art, South Kensington Museums in 1859 by the Reverend Alexander Dyce. The painting was bequeathed as part of the Dyce collection of 3347 works of art, including paintings, miniatures, watercolours and prints as well as his library of 14,000 volumes.

Reverend Alexander Dyce (1798-1869), literary scholar and art collector, was the son of a major, later lieutenant general in the Madras infantry of the East India Company. Raised by two maternal aunts in Aberdeen following his parent's departure for India in 1799, Dyce read classics at Exeter College, Oxford. At his father's insistence he was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1823, having rejected a career in the East India Company. He developed a career in publishing by translating Greek texts. However he is probably best known for his editions of sixteenth and seventeenth century poetry. Dyce collected many rare books covering English, Italian and Classical literature. His collection of paintings and works on paper is very varied. In his collection of paintings, Dyce indulged his enthusiasm for the theatre, acquiring portraits of leading actors, while his drawings collection focuses on Old Master drawings from European schools. The Dyce bequest was one of the earliest of a collection of fine art given to the museum. It followed the Sheepshanks collection, which was given to the museum two years earlier in 1857. While the Sheepshanks collection was mainly of contemporary Victorian art, Dyce's collection focused on British eighteenth and early nineteenth art as well as paintings from Italian, Dutch and Flemish Schools. This bequest therefore helped to broaden the collection, which the museum was already beginning to do by purchasing works from British and Continental Schools.

Sarah Siddons (1755-1831) was the eldest child of Roger Kemble (1722-1802), actor, theatre manager, and his wife, Sarah Ward (1735-1807). From the age of twelve she began to appear with the Kemble's company while attending Mrs. Harris's School for Young Ladies at the Thornloe House in Worcester. She met William Siddons (1744-1808) in her father's company, whom she married in 1773. Hearing of her talent, Garrick engaged Sarah Siddons in his company at Drury Lane in 1775, where she appeared as Portia in The Merchant of Venice on 29th December that year. Her London debut however was not successful and she spent the next six years touring the theatres in England, working in York, Liverpool and Manchester in 1776-7, and in Bath in 1778. She returned to the London stage in 1782. Her return proved hugely successful, making her a cult figure whilst she was still in her twenties. She was a highly charismatic performer and was able to convey specific types of suffering to her audiences in the many tragic roles that she played. She continued to act for the first two decades of the nineteenth century. Her funeral, which took place on the 15th June 1831, drew over 5000 mourners. Sarah Siddons was a mythical figure before her death, with countless visual representations being made of her as well as reviews, eulogies, letters and diary accounts.

This oil sketch of Sarah Siddons has been attributed to both William Hamilton (1750/51-1801) and to Thomas Beach (1738-1806). Beach painted Sarah Siddons and John Philip Kemble in 'Macbeth' Act 2, Scene ii (1786, now in the collection of the Garrick Club, London) and it has been suggested that Dyce 76 was made at the same time. A keen observation of the actors’ dramatic pose is revealed in both works though, in comparison to the portrait at the Garrick Club, that in the V&A is of a more intimate nature. The face of Siddons emerges from a brown neutral background, allowing the focus to remain on the actresses' earnest expression. In both Dyce 76 and the Garrick Club painting she shows the same expression of anguish. However, in his Catalogue of Paintings at the Theatre Museum. London (V&A, 1992), Geoffrey Ashton attributes the painting to William Hamilton, who painted Mrs Siddons and John Philip Kemble on several occasions. Ashton notes the similarity with Hamilton's portrait of Siddons in the role of Zara (ca.1784)which shows the actress turned to the right with her head almost in profile, and observes that the treatment of the eyebrows, mouth, dimpled chin and the dark shadow under the lower lip are very similar in both portraits. However, he adds that 'the impressive freedom of handling' seen in Dyce 76 'is not something usually associated with Hamilton'

Thomas Beach (1738-1806), portrait painter. He studied with the highly regarded portrait painter Sir Joshua Reynolds (1732-1794) between 1760 and 1762. He probably settled in Bath in the 1760s and worked between his home and London. He exhibited at the Society of Artists until 1783, becoming its president in 1782. He also exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1785-90 and 1797. His early portraits relied on the formulas established by Reynolds. He develops a more direct approach in his later work, which can be seen particularly in his group portraits. One example of this is his Sarah Siddons and John Philip Kemble in Macbeth Act 2, Scene ii (1786, London Garrick Club), which also allows the artist to explore his interest in the theatre. Thomas Beach painted little after 1800 and retired to Dorchester.

William Hamilton (1750/51-1801), portrait and narrative painter and illustrator. Hamilton trained as an architectural draughtsman, but went on to study painting at the Royal Academy Schools in 1769. He became a successful portrait painter but turned his attention to subjects from history and literature. He produced a series of Shakespearean scenes for Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery, and his illustrations of James Thomson's poem The Seasons (1797) were much admired.

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