Sarah Siddons (1755-1831) played Euphrasia in Arthur Murphy's tragedy The Grecian Daughter in the late 1770s but made her Drury Lane debut in the role on 30th October 1782. For the previous six years she had worked outside London, but took her last Benefit performance in Bath on 21st May, made farewell performances in Bath, Bristol and Cheltenham and moved to London in late September to appear at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane at the request of Richard Brinsley Sheridan who had taken over management of Drury Lane. Her first appearance on 10th October 1782 in the title role of Garrick's version of Thomas Southerne's Isabella, or, The Fatal Marriage was an immediate success.

The painting after which this print was made is in the Dyce Collection of the V&A Museum (Dyce.76) and has been attributed to William Hamilton (1750-1801) who trained as an architectural draughtsman, went on to study painting at the Royal Academy Schools in 1769 and became a successful portrait painter. Siddons became such a sensation at Drury Lane that audiences crowded to get places to see her, and a print by Robert Dighton published in 1784 (S.49-2008, S.1623-2009) shows people fighting for places at Drury Lane to see Siddons in The Grecian Daughter and her brother John Philip Kemble in Hamlet.