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Source Description
Although Thomas Gainsborough produced about a thousand portraits in oil, the artist typically worked directly on the canvas rather than making preparatory drawings of his sitters. This study, so closely related to the artist’s finished painting of the famous actress Mrs. Sarah Siddons, is highly unusual. One scholar has hypothesized that because the portrait was not made on commission but conceived for an exhibition in his studio, Gainsborough may have had only a single sitting with the celebrated actress, and knew he would he would have to rely on the drawing as a basis for the finished work.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
148811
label
Mrs. Sarah Siddons
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
148811
contentType
drawing
title
Mrs. Sarah Siddons
description
Although Thomas Gainsborough produced about a thousand portraits in oil, the artist typically worked directly on the canvas rather than making preparatory drawings of his sitters. This study, so closely related to the artist’s finished painting of the famous actress Mrs. Sarah Siddons, is highly unusual. One scholar has hypothesized that because the portrait was not made on commission but conceived for an exhibition in his studio, Gainsborough may have had only a single sitting with the celebrated actress, and knew he would he would have to rely on the drawing as a basis for the finished work.
date
1785
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79929343
creators
1313
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 46.8 x 35.3 cm (18 7/16 x 13 7/8 in.)
cul
England, 18th century
accession
1976.6
Source extras
tec
black chalk with extensive stump work with traces of white gouache
tombstone
Mrs. Sarah Siddons, 1785. Thomas Gainsborough (British, 1727–1788). Black chalk with extensive stump work with traces of white gouache; sheet: 46.8 x 35.3 cm (18 7/16 x 13 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1976.6
supportMaterials
description
heavy wove paper
collection
DR - British
didYouKnow
The sitter for this portrait, Sarah Siddons, was the subject of a competition between Thomas Gainsborough and his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, who exhibited a portrait of the actress at the Royal Academy the year before this drawing was made.
citations
citation
Reid, Andrew T. <em>The Collection of Pictures Formed by Andrew T. Reid of Auchterarder</em>. Glasgow: Andrew T. Reid, 1933.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: V, 5
citation
Hayes, John. <em>The Drawings of Thomas Gainsborough</em>. New Haven: Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art by Yale University Press, 1971.
page_number
Mentioned: vol. 1, pp. 128-9, no. 64
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 193
citation
Johnson, Mark M. <em>Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism</em>. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1980.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 56-59, no. 67; Reproduced: p. 57
citation
Breitman, Ellen. <em>Art and the Stage</em>. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1981.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 41; Reproduced: fig. 7
citation
Egerton, Judy. <em>The British School</em>. London: National Gallery Publications, 1998.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 166; Reproduced: fig. 1
citation
Radford, Ron. <em>Island to Empire: 300 Years of British Art, 1550-1850</em>. Exh. Cat. Adelaide: Art Gallery of South Australia, 2005.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 152
citation
Lemonedes, Heather. <em>British Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art. </em>Exh. Cat. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2013.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 38-41, 145-6, no. 9b; Reproduced: p. 41
creditline
John L. Severance Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 07:38:35.738000
sourceId
148811
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - British
med
black chalk with extensive stump work with traces of white gouache
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
c42a2e74fdb8c3c3