A PORTRAIT MINIATURE BY HORACE HONE OF SARAH SIDDONS, A BRITISH ACTRESS WHO FOUND FAME ON DRURY LANE FOR HER PORTRAYAL OF LADY MACBETH AND BECAME THE BEST KNOWN TRAGEDIENNE OF THE 18th CENTURY, WILL BE OFFERED BY BONHAMS IN THE FINE PORTRAIT MINIATURE SALE TAKING PLACE IN KNIGHTSBRIDGE ON 24.NOVEMBER. THE STUNNING PORTRAIT IS ESTIMATED TO SELL FOR £6,000 – 8,000. BORN IN BRECON, WALES, SARAH SIDDONS WAS THE ELDEST DAUGHTER OF AN ACTOR-MANAGER, WHOSE TRAVELING COMPANY INCLUDED MOST MEMBERS OF HIS FAMILY. IN 1774, SIDDONS' PERFORMANCE AS BELVIDERA IN THOMAS OTWAY'S 'VENICE PRESERVED' BROUGHT HER TO THE ATTENTION OF DAVID GARRICK, WHO ASKED HER TO APPEAR AT DRURY LANE. HOWEVER, HER FIRST APPEARANCES WERE NOT WELL RECEIVED AND FROM 1777, SHE WORKED IN PROVINCIAL COMPANIES, GRADUALLY BUILDING UP HER REPUTATION. HER NEXT DRURY LANE APPEARANCE IN 1782 COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE DIFFERENT. SHE WAS AN IMMEDIATE SENSATION PLAYING THE TITLE ROLE IN GARRICK'S ADAPTATION OF A PLAY BY THOMAS SOUTHERNE, 'ISABELLA'. SHE SUBSEQUENTLY TOOK ON SHAKESPEARIAN CHARACTERS FROM ROSALIND AND OPHELIA TO DESDEMONA, BUT HER MOST FAMOUS ROLE WAS THAT OF LADY MACBETH. IT WAS SAID THAT THE GRANDEUR OF HER EMOTIONS AS SHE EXPRESSED LADY MACBETH'S MURDEROUS PASSIONS, HELD HER AUDIENCES SPELLBOUND. THIS WAS THE BEGINNING OF TWENTY YEARS IN WHICH SHE WAS THE UNDISPUTED QUEEN OF DRURY LANE. HER CELEBRITY STATUS HAS BEEN CALLED 'MYTHICAL' AND 'MONUMENTAL', AND BY THE MID 1780s SIDDONS WAS ESTABLISHED AS A CULTURAL ICON. THE PORTRAIT MINIATURE WAS PAINTED AT THE HEIGHT OF HER CAREER ON DRURY LANE. WEARING A LIGHT BROWN DRESS AND WIDE BRIMMED HAT, SHE PROPS HER FACE UP AGAINST HER RIGHT HAND, IN A THOUGHTFUL GAZE. BY THIS PERIOD, THERE WAS A GROWING DEMAND FOR IMAGES OF THE CELEBRITIES OF THE DAY AND THEATRE PROVED A GOOD SOURCE OF COMMISSION FOR MINIATURISTS.
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