ABSTRACT
A series of letters housed in the Cambridge Library and published in 1905, in a volume entitled An Artist's Love Story edited by Oswald G. Knapp, tells the tale of a doomed love triangle between the celebrated artist Sir Thomas Lawrence and both of the famous actress Sarah Siddons’ daughters – Sally and Maria. Sally Siddons (1755–1831), a talented composer and singer, emerges in the correspondence as a complex and intriguing figure. She was deeply involved in the theatrical culture of the 1790s, both backstage as her mother's companion and in the audience as skeptical critic. Sally Siddons’ letters emphasize her evaluation of current plays, her intimate knowledge of the exhausting experience of a professional touring actress, and her portrayal of the space of the theatre as a social world of desire and intrigue. Sally stages her love affair with Lawrence against the backdrop of the theatre, suggesting the powerful ways in which the public arena of performance provided an opportunity for women in the late eighteenth century to be immersed in a world beyond the confines of domestic space.
