Artist: Sir Joshua Reynolds (English, 1723-1792) Title: Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic Muse Medium: Antique steel engraving on wove paper after the original by master engraver Edward Smith (fl. 1823-49). Year: 1834 Signature: Signed in the plate. Condition: Excellent Dimensions: Image Size – 4 1/4 x 6 1/8 inches. Framed dimensions: Approximately 13 x 15 inches. Framing: This piece has been professionally matted and framed using all new materials. Accompanied by a Gallery Certificate of Authenticity. Additional Notes: This is not a modern print. It was hand pulled from the copper plate more than 180 years ago. The strike is crisp and the lines are sharp. Extra Information: Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse, whole-length, sitting, directed to the front, facing and looking upwards to the left, both arms resting on her chair, wearing heavy robes and a thick pearl necklace, her hair plaited; behind her stand the figures of Pity and Terror. Artist Biography: Sir Joshua Reynolds was an English portrait painter and aesthetician who dominated English artistic life in the middle and late 18th century. Through his art and teaching, he attempted to lead British painting away from the indigenous anecdotal pictures of the early 18th century toward the formal rhetoric of the continental Grand Style. With the founding of the Royal Academy in 1768, Reynolds was elected its first president and knighted by King George III.