Melpomene
As a freelance artist and printmaker, Gillray had to keep his finger on the public pulse. Part of his success depended upon portraying figures that were well known—beloved, popular, or simply notorious. In 1784, there were few men or women who were more recognizable or more revered than the actress Sarah Siddons. Since taking London by storm in 1782 she had appeared in a series of highly dramatic and successful roles, including Euphrasia in Arthur Murphy's The Grecian Daughter, where she kills the evil usurper King Dionysius to save her father.
Mrs. Siddons as Euphrasia [1784]
© Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
Such, indeed, was the esteem in which she was held that when Sir Joshua Reynolds portrayed her in his famous painting Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse [1783-84] he is supposed to have said that he purposely signed the painting on the edge of her dress, for "I have resolved to go down to posterity on the hem of your garment."
Gillray portrays Mrs Siddons as the tragic muse, Melpomene, on a stage-like space in a pose that bears some resemblance to the print of Siddons as Euphrasia.
© National Portrait Gallery, London
The dagger that appears there has fallen from her right hand as she grasps after a pair of moneybags that hangs temptingly from a pitchfork emerging from an ominous dark cloud billowing up from below. As she does so, she inadvertently spills the liquid from the chalice in her left hand. In the Reynolds painting, the dagger and chalice were symbols of pity and terror, the key emotions called forth by tragedy. In spite of the fact that her pocket is already bulging with coins, Mrs Siddons seems oblivious to both as she succumbs to temptation and reaches for the money. In the background, the Temple of (her) Fame is crumbling, presumably in reaction to this display of greed. In the text bubble above her, she says,
Famish'd & spent relieving others woe.
Your poor devoted Suppliant only begs.
This morsel for to buy a bit of Bread.
Even if Mrs Siddons is unaware, Gillray seems to know full well to whom she is addressing this plea, and he isn't buying the excuse.
Sources and Reading
- Commentary from the British Museum on Melpomene
- Sarah Siddons Wikipedia
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