page_title: Sarah Siddons
section_title: Marriage and Children
hierarchical_section_title: Sarah Siddons / Biography / Marriage and Children
caption_attribution_description: English: From a miniature painting by Charles Shirreff (ca. 1750-1829), hand coloured stipple engraving of Sarah Siddons and Mr (John Philip) Kemble in the roles of Sigismunda and Tancred. Victoria &amp; Albert Museum, Harry Beard Collection. Place of origin: London (printed and published) Date: 12th December 1785 (published) Artist/Maker: Shirreff, Charles (painter); Watson, Caroline, born 1760 - died 1814 (engraver) Materials and Techniques: Print Museum number: S.6059-2009 Gallery location: In Storage Public access description Hand coloured stipple engraving of Mrs. Siddons and Mr. (John Philip) Kemble in the characters of the lovers Sigismunda and Tancred from James Thomson's Tancred and Sigismunda. She is dressed in a white flowing empire line gown with a three quarter length sleeves and a thick silver ribbon at the bust. He stands beside her and is holding out a letter which she is preparing to take. He is dressed in the uniform of a soldier which consists of a blue and red jacket trimmed with gold braid and is worn with a tartan skirt and tall black hat with a long red and gold tassel. URL https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1151433/h-beard-print-collection-print-shirreff-charles/
context_page_description: Sarah Siddons was a Welsh-born English actress, the best-known tragedienne of the 18th century. Contemporaneous critic William Hazlitt dubbed Siddons as "tragedy personified".
  She was the elder sister of John Philip Kemble, Charles Kemble, Stephen Kemble, Ann Hatton, and Elizabeth Whitlock, and the aunt of Fanny Kemble. She was most famous for her portrayal of the Shakespearean character, Lady Macbeth, a character she made her own, as well as for fainting at the sight of the Elgin Marbles in London.
  The Sarah Siddons Society, founded in 1952, continues to present the Sarah Siddons Award annually in Chicago to a distinguished actress.
context_section_description: In 1773, at the age of 18, she married William Siddons, an actor. After 30 years, the marriage became strained and informally ended with their separation in 1804. William died in 1808.
  Sarah Siddons gave birth to seven children, five of whom she outlived:
  Henry Siddons (1774–1815), an actor and theatre manager in Edinburgh
  Sarah Martha (Sally) Siddons (1775–1803)
  Maria Siddons (1779–1798)
  Frances Emilia Siddons (b. 1781), died in infancy
  Elizabeth Ann Siddons (1782–1788), died in childhood
  George John Siddons (1785–1848), a Customs official in India
  Cecilia Siddons (1794–1868), who married George Combe in 1833 and lived in Edinburgh
  Siddons regularly performed on stage while visibly pregnant, which often elicited sympathy for her character. As Lady Macbeth, her pregnancy not only provided "a further reminder of the domestic life of both the actress and the character", adding a maternal aspect to her portrayal, but also created "a new level of tension in the play not present if the couple is perceived as barren."
caption: 1785 engraving from Charles Shirreff's miniature of Siddons and John Philip Kemble
exif: {}