Sarah Siddons (1755-1831) was born into a family of actors, the first of the 12 children of Roger Kemble and Sarah Ward. Her brother John Philip Kemble became the most important actor-manager of his time. She played a key role in shifting the perception of the acting profession as one with a rather disreputable reputation in provincial touring theatre to one admired and enjoyed in the salons of the aristocracy, and she accumulated substantial personal wealth. After a childhood spent touring the country with her father’s company, and her first recorded role as Ariel in The Tempest in Coventry at the end of 1766, she married William Siddons, another actor, in 1773, but the marriage was not happy and they finally separated in 1804. Sarah Siddons’ first performances at Drury Lane theatre in London were not a success, but she gained experience on the large London stage and found tragic roles suited to her skills and temperament, so that by 1782-3 she achieved great acclaim for her performances. William Hazlitt, the writer and social commentator, wrote of her interpretation of William Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth: ‘she was regarded less with admiration than with wonder, as if a being of a superior order had dropped from another sphere to awe the world with the majesty of her appearance. Power was seated on her brow, passion emanated from her breast as from a shrine; she was tragedy personified … ’. In 1783, she was appointed preceptress (teacher) in English reading to the daughters of George III. In 1802, she and her brother left Drury Lane theatre and moved to Covent Garden theatre, where she remained until her retirement in 1812.

At the end of the 1770s, Sarah Siddons was performing in Bath. It was here that she first met the artist Thomas Lawrence, who in 1798, painted the original portrait from which this miniature was copied by Henry Bone (1755-1834).   Lawrence painted three versions of the portrait and drawings by Henry Bone suggest that he may have produced another version of this enamel, as one was exhibited at the Royal Academy in the summer of 1798 and this miniature dates from September of that year.

Bone was born in Truro in Cornwall, the son of a woodcarver and cabinet maker, and began his artistic career painting on china for local manufacturers. In about 1779, he moved to London, where he became established as one of the most outstanding enamellists of his day. His children and grandchildren also became miniaturists. He painted designs for lockets, watches and jewellery. He was principally a copyist and his large-scale enamels were based on paintings by Old Masters and leading contemporary artists. He exhibited over 240 items at the Royal Academy between 1781 and 1832, when his eyesight began to fail. He was appointed enamel painter to the future George IV in 1801, before holding the same position to George III from 1809, and later George IV and William IV. Bone could obtain top prices for his work – in 1811 he received 2,200 guineas for his framed Bacchus and Ariadne. He was described by a contemporary as a ‘worthy, kind, liberal and affectionate man’.

The miniature is signed and dated on the lower left HBone / 1798, and inscribed by the artist on the reverse in black paint: Mrs Siddons / Painted by Henry Bone for / His Royal Highness the / Prince of Wales / after a picture in oil by Thos Lawrence R.A. / Sepr 1798.