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Show Reynolds Tainting Siddons. Some of Reynolds' methods were peculiar. pe-culiar. He usually painted his sitters from their reflection in a mirror and not from a direct view. He always remained re-mained standing while at work, and ha rarely signed portrait. One notable exception, however, was made in the case of his magnificent portrait por-trait of Mrs. Siddons as the Tragio Muse, which was painted when the master was 60 years old and when Mrs. Siddons was 28. The great actress, failing fail-ing at first to recognize a sort of embroidery em-broidery which the artist had added to the edge of her robe, soon perceived that it contained the words, "Joshua Reynolds Rey-nolds pinsit, 1784," . whereupon Sir Joshua assured her that he would be proud to have his name go down to posterity pos-terity on the hem of her garment 1 Before Be-fore commencing this picture the artist, ar-tist, instead of posing the sitter himself, requested Mrs. Siddons to give him her own idea of the Tragic Mus , and she immediately assumed the pose in which the picture was painted. Scribner's Magazine. |
