{"secondaryobjectnumber":null,"periodterms":[],"creditline":"Museum purchase, Surdna Fund","caption":"George Romney (1734–1802; born Dalton-in-Furness, United Kingdom; died Kendal, United Kingdom), Siddonian Recollections, ca. 1785–90. Oil on canvas; 68 × 61.2 cm, 85.7 × 78.7 × 5.4 cm (frame). 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Oil on canvas; 68 × 61.2 cm, 85.7 × 78.7 × 5.4 cm (frame). Museum purchase, Surdna Fund (y1992-13)","displaydate":"ca. 1785–90","medium":"Oil on canvas","media":[{"id":232296,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PUAM21GA41158","isprimary":0,"rank":9,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"PUAM Photo"},{"id":232297,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PUAM21GA41153","isprimary":0,"rank":8,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"PUAM Photo"},{"id":232298,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PUAM21GA41151","isprimary":0,"rank":7,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"PUAM Photo"},{"id":232299,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PUAM21GA41150","isprimary":0,"rank":6,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"PUAM Photo"},{"id":232300,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PUAM21GA41148","isprimary":0,"rank":5,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"PUAM Photo"},{"id":232301,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PUAM21GA41147","isprimary":0,"rank":4,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"PUAM Photo"},{"id":232302,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PUAM21GA41143","isprimary":0,"rank":3,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"PUAM Photo"},{"id":232303,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PUAM21GA41138","isprimary":0,"rank":2,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"PUAM Photo"},{"id":232304,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PUAM21GA41133","isprimary":1,"rank":1,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"PUAM Photo"}],"displayperiod":null,"extended_content":true,"campuscollections":"false","bibliography":[{"boilertext":"<EM>The age of neo-classicism: [catalogue of] the fourteenth exhibition of the Council of Europe [held at] the Royal Academy and the Victoria &amp; Albert Museum</EM>, (London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1972).","citation":"<EM>The age of neo-classicism: [catalogue of] the fourteenth exhibition of the Council of Europe [held at] the Royal Academy and the Victoria &amp; Albert Museum</EM>, (London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1972)., p. 145, no. 225","date":1972,"id":4782,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/624417"},{"boilertext":"<EM>The drawings of George Romney: an exhibition held from May to September 1962 at the Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Mass</EM>, (Northampton, MA: Smith College Museum of Art, 1962).","citation":"<EM>The drawings of George Romney: an exhibition held from May to September 1962 at the Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Mass</EM>, (Northampton, MA: Smith College Museum of Art, 1962)., no. 109","date":1962,"id":5108,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/37882"},{"boilertext":"Henry Hawley, <EM>Neo-classicism: style and motif</EM>, (Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1964).","citation":"Henry Hawley, <EM>Neo-classicism: style and motif</EM>, (Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1964)., no. 80 (illus.)","date":1964,"id":5109,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/214944344"},{"boilertext":"Frederick J. Cummings and Allen Staley, <EM>Romantic art in Britain: paintings and drawings, 1760-1860</EM>, (Philadelphia, PA: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1968).","citation":"Frederick J. Cummings and Allen Staley, <EM>Romantic art in Britain: paintings and drawings, 1760-1860</EM>, (Philadelphia, PA: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1968)., p. 77, no. 34 (illus.)","date":1968,"id":5110,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/311575626"},{"boilertext":"Robyn Asleson, Shelley M Bennett, Mark Leonard and Shearer West, <EM>A passion for performance: Sarah Siddons and her portraitists</EM>, (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1999).","citation":"Robyn Asleson, Shelley M Bennett, Mark Leonard and Shearer West, <EM>A passion for performance: Sarah Siddons and her portraitists</EM>, (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1999)., p. 40 (illus. color)","date":1999,"id":5111,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/40621764"},{"boilertext":"<EM>Catalogue of pictures by Old Masters ... old pictures &amp; drawings</EM>, (London?:&nbsp;Christie, Manson &amp; Woods, 1924).","citation":"<EM>Catalogue of pictures by Old Masters ... old pictures &amp; drawings</EM>, (London?:&nbsp;Christie, Manson &amp; Woods, 1924)., no. 12","date":1924,"id":5112,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/908835754"},{"boilertext":"<em>Catalogue of pictures by old masters the property of Arthur Kay, Esq...and from other sources which will be sold by auction by Messrs. Christie, Manson &amp; Woods ... on Friday, March 22, 1929</em>, (London: Christie, Manson &amp; Woods, 1929).","citation":"<em>Catalogue of pictures by old masters the property of Arthur Kay, Esq...and from other sources which will be sold by auction by Messrs. Christie, Manson &amp; Woods ... on Friday, March 22, 1929</em>, (London: Christie, Manson &amp; Woods, 1929)., no. 130","date":1929,"id":5113,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/171360819"},{"boilertext":"Kurt Bittel, et. al., <EM>Propyläen-kunstgeschichte</EM>, (Berlin: Propyläen Verlag, 1966-1974).","citation":"Kurt Bittel, et. al., <EM>Propyläen-kunstgeschichte</EM>, (Berlin: Propyläen Verlag, 1966-1974)., Vol. 10: pl. 427; p. 424","date":1966,"id":5114,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/1643007"},{"boilertext":"Fritz Saxl and Rudolf Wittkower, <EM>British art and the Mediterranean</EM>, (London; New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1948).","citation":"Fritz Saxl and Rudolf Wittkower, <EM>British art and the Mediterranean</EM>, (London; New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1948)., p. 82, no. 3 (illus.)","date":1948,"id":5115,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/1748875"},{"boilertext":"Raymond Lister, <EM>British Romantic art</EM>, (London: Bell, 1973).","citation":"Raymond Lister, <EM>British Romantic art</EM>, (London: Bell, 1973)., pl. 41; p. 64-65","date":1973,"id":5116,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/647908"},{"boilertext":"Gerhard Charles Rump, <em>George Romney (1734-1802): zur Bildform der Bürgerlichen Mitte in der Englischen Neoklassik</em>, (Hildesheim; New York: G. Olms, 1974).","citation":"Gerhard Charles Rump, <em>George Romney (1734-1802): zur Bildform der Bürgerlichen Mitte in der Englischen Neoklassik</em>, (Hildesheim; New York: G. Olms, 1974)., Vol. 1: p. 59","date":1974,"id":5117,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/4833244"},{"boilertext":"Heather McPherson, \"Picturing tragedy: Mrs. Siddons as the tragic muse revisited\", <EM>Eighteenth-Century studies</EM> 33, no. 3 (Spring, 2000): pp. 401-430.","citation":"Heather McPherson, \"Picturing tragedy: Mrs. Siddons as the tragic muse revisited\", <EM>Eighteenth-Century studies</EM> 33, no. 3 (Spring, 2000): pp. 401-430., p. 415, 429, note 103","date":2000,"id":5118,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/30053950"},{"boilertext":"Shearer West, \"Romney’s theatricality\", in Alex Kidson, ed., <em>Those delightful regions of imagination: essays on George Romney</em>, (New Haven, CT: Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, the Yale Center for British Art [by] Yale University Press, 2002).","citation":"Shearer West, \"Romney’s theatricality\", in Alex Kidson, ed., <em>Those delightful regions of imagination: essays on George Romney</em>, (New Haven, CT: Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, the Yale Center for British Art [by] Yale University Press, 2002)., p. 140; pl. 7 (color)","date":2002,"id":5119,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/48932754"},{"boilertext":"<P>Hedy B. Landman, <EM>European and American art from Princeton alumni collections</EM><EM>, </EM>(Princeton, NJ: Art Museum, Princeton University, 1972).</P>","citation":"<P>Hedy B. Landman, <EM>European and American art from Princeton alumni collections</EM><EM>, </EM>(Princeton, NJ: Art Museum, Princeton University, 1972).</P>, p. 30, no. 30 (illus.)","date":1972,"id":568,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/403016"},{"boilertext":"\"Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1992,\" <em>Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University </em>52, no. 1 (1993): p. 36-83.","citation":"\"Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1992,\" <em>Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University </em>52, no. 1 (1993): p. 36-83., p. 37 (illus.), p. 39","date":1993,"id":3075,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774739"},{"boilertext":"Elizabeth Eger, <EM>Bluestockings displayed: portraiture, patronage and performance</EM>, (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013).","citation":"Elizabeth Eger, <EM>Bluestockings displayed: portraiture, patronage and performance</EM>, (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013).","date":2013,"id":1485,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/842350595"},{"boilertext":"Anne Leonard and Joyce Suechun Cheng et al., <EM>The tragic muse: art and emotion, 1700-1900</EM>,&nbsp;(Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2011).","citation":"Anne Leonard and Joyce Suechun Cheng et al., <EM>The tragic muse: art and emotion, 1700-1900</EM>,&nbsp;(Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2011)., fig. 35, p. 64 (illus.), 114","date":2011,"id":1504,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/587209586"}],"nowebuse":"False","periods":[],"department":"European Painting and Sculpture ","attribute_groups":[{"id":2199321,"term":"European Art","termtype":"Collecting Area"},{"id":2199338,"term":"Nazi-era gaps","termtype":"Provenance & Cultural Heritage"}],"daterange":"A.D. 1700-1800","dateend":1790,"depicted":[],"titles":[{"title":"Siddonian Recollections","titletype":"Primary Title","displayorder":1}],"hasimage":"true","creditlinerepro":"","objectnumber":"y1992-13","inscribed":"Inscribed, lower right: Sidonian Recollections\r\n","texts":[{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Multivocal Label","textentryhtml":"<p>\n\tAs a theater director, I think about artistic process: from research to rehearsal to opening night. On some level, my process moves in the opposite direction as Romney’s. Theater moves from the page to the stage, whereas this sketch is an attempt to capture the expanse of a performance back to a singular frame. The “thing” that is the play is ephemeral and lives only in the memory of the spectator. So too does Sarah Siddons, as performer, live in Romney’s memory. In looking at this sketch, I see the ways in which all artists work in draft—in repetition and revision. It is complicated to locate a singular portrait of a woman whose work was live, embodied storytelling. It seems impossible to capture in still life an artist whose medium is motion—and yet, to be an artist is to strive.\n</p>\n<p><b>\n\tNicole A. Watson</b>, Producing Artistic Director, Playwrights’ Center, Minneapolis, MN\n</p>","remarks":"EUR-STR_02-05_WLA-Day 1 Cataloguing"},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Provenance","textentryhtml":"Sale, Christie’s, London, March 18, 1924, no. 12; sale, Christie’s, London, April 27, 1925, no. 86 [15 gns., to Deacon]; sale, Christie’s, London, March 22, 1929, no. 130 [24-3, to Leger Galleries, London]; [Arthur U. Newton Galleries, New York, ca. 1945]; [Victor D. Spark, New York, by 1962]; Mr. and Mrs. Thomas J. McCormick, by 1964; [Hirschl and Adler Galleries, Inc., New York]; 1992 purchase by Princeton University Art Museum.","remarks":"not vetted"}],"datebegin":1785,"sortnumber":"1992   13y","published_date":"2026-02-11 10:36:19.575660","objectid":33625,"dimensions":"68 × 61.2 cm (26 3/4 × 24 1/8 in.)\r\nframe: 85.7 × 78.7 × 5.4 cm (33 3/4 × 31 × 2 1/8 in.)","on_view":true}