Sarah Siddons (née Kemble)

1 portrait of Sarah Siddons (née Kemble)

Sarah Siddons (née Kemble), by John Henning, 1807 -NPG 5460 - © National Portrait Gallery, London

© National Portrait Gallery, London

Mid-Georgian Portraits Catalogue

Sarah Siddons (née Kemble)

by John Henning
1807
2 1/4 in. (57 mm) diameter
NPG 5460

Inscriptionback to top

Incised on shoulder: 1807/HENNING/ F

This portraitback to top

Henning exhibited a medallion of Mrs Siddons at the Association of Scottish Artists, Edinburgh, in 1808. A copper mould and a plaster cast are in the Paisley Art Gallery and another cast is in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery (PG 537). A related drawing by him was sold Sotheby’s, 15 March 1984, lot 25. [1] In 1810 Henning exhibited a bust of Mrs Siddons in Edinburgh. These were apparently the items he again exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists in 1824: no.343 a 'Bust of Mrs Siddons' and no.515 a Portrait of Mrs Siddons fifteen Years ago; A Study for a Medallion (drawing).
Benjamin West, in speaking ‘very favourably’ of Henning’s work, singled out his ‘life size [drawing] of Mrs Siddons and her small Medallion’. [2]

Footnotesback to top

1) Illus. J. Malden, John Henning, exhibition catalogue, Paisley, 1977, n.p..
2) Henning to William Mure, 9 January 1844; quoted in J. Malden, John Henning, exhibition catalogue, Paisley, 1977, n.p..

Provenanceback to top

Purchased from Agnew 1981.

Exhibitionsback to top

Sculpture and Works of Art, Agnew, 1981 (10).


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, National Portrait Gallery, 2004, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.

View all known portraits for Sarah Siddons (née Kemble)