PORTRAITURE AS HISTORY AND THEATRE .sx The insistence that portraiture could serve the same edifying function as history painting was to some extent opportunistic .sx Theorists such as Richardson and Reynolds had their own interests as practising artists to serve , and the promotion of portraiture as a serious branch of art lent respectability to their efforts .sx However , throughout the eighteenth century , artists , critics and patrons acknowledged that portraiture could and did have a function beyond the obvious one of 'face painting' .sx Its perception as history accompanied the growth of a genre of theatrical portraiture , which , in its initial stages , was primarily commercial .sx By the end of the century , changes in the theatre itself and in the perception of actors gave the stage added status as a subject and concern for painters .sx It was understandable therefore that artists should see in the theatre a means of fusing portraiture and history , and Lawrence's portraits represent the climax of this tendency .sx From the seventeenth century , the equation of portrait patronage with personal vanity was denied by those who saw a more public role for the genre .sx Many country houses had a 'gallery of worthies' containing either painted or sculpted depictions of famous men and , less frequently , women , from the past and present .sx Such galleries were intended to suggest the learning and judgment of the house's owner , but they were also interpreted as an incitement to noble behaviour .sx The portrait's power was seen to lie more in the choice of the person represented than in the quality of the painting itself , so that the Brown Gallery at Knole contained portraits of worthies to which the names were attached arbitrarily .sx To counterbalance this tendency to ignore the portrait's aesthetic value , Jonathan Richardson insisted that its true power lay in the skill of the artist to reveal the nobility of the sitter's character .sx Richardson , who equated the genre's status with that of history painting , defined a portrait as " a sort of General History of the Life of the Person it represents , not only to Him who is acquainted with it , but to Many Others " .sx By successfully depicting a 'great man' , a portrait painter could therefore convey the idea of greatness to an observer , whether or not that observer had any foreknowledge of the sitter .sx The portrait thus transcended the specificity of its subject by focusing on the salient virtues of the sitter's character .sx With such a theoretical basis , portraits could be seen as having a public role , and one critic even went so far as to suggest that portrait painting should become for England what history painting was for Italy .sx Later in the century , this conception of portraiture permeated Royal Academy lectures and discourses .sx Reynolds referred to the genre infrequently and cautiously , but in his Fourth Discourse he implicitly acknowledged the value of portraiture that was " general " rather than " specific" :sx " but it happens in a few instances , that the lower may be improved by borrowing from the grand .sx Thus if a portrait-painter is desirous to raise and improve his subject , he has no other means than by approaching it to a general idea " .sx In this same Discourse , Reynolds deplored the specificity that resulted when a portrait painter attempted history , as " An History-painter paints man in general ; a Portrait-painter , a particular man , and consequently a defective model .sx " Here he identified the essential problem of specificity , which not only hampered the portrait painter searching for a means of universalizing his works , but potentially threatened the universality of history painting itself .sx Reynolds's warning was undermined by the wild success of West's and Copley's modern history paintings , which drew their popularity in part from the number of identifiable portraits contained within them .sx This dissolving of the boundaries between portraiture and history led Northcote to contend " Portrait often runs into history and history into portrait , without our knowing it " , and by 1809 , one critic could argue the benefits of including portraits in history painting , and look forward to the time when West's example " will ultimately banish all imaginary monsters from the historical canvass [sic] " .sx Writing in the Anti-Jacobin Review , this critic was responding to Opie's Royal Academy lectures , and challenging that artist's scorn for those who were interested only in " likenesses" .sx Significantly , this partisan reviewer saw portraits of 'great men' within a war-weary country as serving an inspirational and educative function .sx The nature of the relationship between portraiture and history painting was explored most subtly by Fuseli , who interpreted the former as being concerned , broadly , with the depiction of character :sx " Portrait is to historic painting in art , what physiognomy is to pathognomy in science .sx That shows the character and powers of the being which it delineates , in its formation , and at rest ; this shows it in exertion .sx " Fuseli's sensitivity to the role of portraiture within history painting is revealed through his invention of a category of " dramatic " painting , which , together with the " historical " and the " epic" , formed his three branches of history in painting .sx The introduction of this dramatic argument into a predominantly historical agenda is a significant change of emphasis , and one which reflects the growing importance of a theatrical model to the historical painters of the Royal Academy .sx Theatrical portraiture emerged as a sub-genre in the 1740s and 50s when David Garrick became aware of the valuable publicity to be gained from depictions of himself in character .sx Topical portraits of this kind proved successful commercial speculations for both actor and artist , particularly when shown at a public exhibition .sx Because they were primarily commercial in their content and intention , theatrical portraits were at first held in low regard .sx Actors and actresses , struggling to increase their status in a mobile society , would often take offence when portraits in street dress were exhibited with allusions to their profession , perceiving an important difference between a sensational image of public performance and a private declaration of status .sx Lawrence himself suffered the outrage of Elizabeth Farren , when her portrait was accidently sic !sx exhibited under the title 'An Actress' , rather than 'A Lady' .sx Equally , critics of the Shakespeare Gallery warned artists not to look to the stage for their inspiration , fearing ( not without cause ) that the exhibition could turn into a mere collection of costume portraits .sx However , the contempt with which theatrical portraits seemed to be held was offset by more positive responses .sx 'Anthony Pasquin's' often brutal criticisms of Royal Academy exhibitions included praise of Samuel de Wilde's theatrical portraits , and Reynolds , who professed to abhor " the theatrical pomp and parade of dress and attitude " was the eager purchaser of Zoffany's portrait of Garrick as Abel Drugger .sx Reynolds also painted several theatrical portraits , including Mrs. Abington as Miss Prue ( 1771 ; New Haven , Yale Centre ) , which offended against his own rules of specificity .sx It was Reynolds who first used theatrical subjects as a means of realizing his ambition to elevate the genre of portraiture .sx Several of his theatrical portraits show his attempt to cast this genre into a pseudo-historical mould .sx Garrick Between Tragedy and Comedy ( 1760-62 ; private collection ) plays learnedly on the theme of the Judgment of Hercules and alludes to Shaftesbury's Characteristicks .sx Such works came to be read as transcending the narrow bounds of both face painting and theatrical portraiture .sx Thus Mrs. Abington as the Comic Muse ( c. 1769 ; Waddesdon ) was the subject of a commemorative poem by Edward Jerningham , who declared that the portrait , then hanging at Knole , acted as a sort of " talisman " against sadness , while Reynolds's depiction of the actress Fanny Kemble in street dress was referred to as an " instructive canvas " exciting " moral worth " .sx Here Richardson's idea that a portrait could instruct by merely exhibiting the virtue of its sitter makes its way into ephemeral criticism .sx But it was Reynolds's portrait of Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic Muse ( plate 41 ) that went the furthest towards exemplifying his own ideals , and which had the greatest impact on Lawrence .sx In his otherwise sparse and somewhat lame academy discourses Lawrence's observations on Reynolds's portrait of Siddons emerge as a strong testimony to his interest in this subject .sx Calling the painting " a work of the highest epic character , and indisputably the finest female portrait in the world " , Lawrence goes on to praise Reynolds and Siddons for the cooperation which led to the painting's creation .sx By using the term 'epic' , Lawrence implicitly links the portrait with Fuseli's highest category of history painting .sx Lawrence's own evaluation of theatrical portrait to epic history painting was made possible by the public perception of Siddons , and his choice of Siddons's brother , John Philip Kemble , as a theatrical/historical subject equally owed much to the public perception of that actor .sx The status of the actor in the eighteenth century was enhanced when regulation of the theatres led to a monopoly , allowing Garrick , as manager of Drury Lane , to gain an unprecedented fortune .sx Garrick used his wealth and fame as a passport to genteel society , and Kemble followed his lead when he assumed the management of Drury Lane under Richard Brinsley Sheridan's jurisdiction .sx Garrick's ascent had aroused as much suspicion as admiration , with observers such as Horace Walpole rejecting his claims to gentility as mere emulation .sx Kemble however benefited from Garrick's example and inspired greater regard for his personal qualities .sx Just as his private character was declared to be above reproach , so his public persona was represented as exhibiting the values of nobility , dignity and restraint .sx Haydon reported that " Kemble as an Actor & West as a Painter have more claims on society from the honour of their private characters , than the greatness of their genius " , but the Gentleman's Magazine extended his claim without qualification , referring to Kemble as a " man in whom private worth unites itself to public activities " .sx His image was enhanced by an association with primarily tragic roles :sx unlike Garrick , who " would play Punch rather than not be acting " , Kemble " was impressed with a higher sense of the dignitiy and utility of his art " , as the portrayal of comic characters was felt to be " below the attention of such a performer " .sx That such qualities were the result of a critical construction can be proven by comparing them to adverse criticisms which viewed his acting as sloppy , ranting and overtly emotional .sx Apologists explained his 'classical' style in terms that were appropriated from Reynolds's Discourses :sx The truth is , that the advocates for natural representation , forget what Mr. Kemble always bore in mind , that it is the best part of Nature only , which should be faithfully given ; that stooping to represent the common effects of common life , either in person or action , degrades the character and the art .sx Kemble's Coriolanus was extolled as " the beau id e al of Rome " ; his stage presence was compared to the effect of the Apollo Belvedere and the Laocoon ; and his later biographer , the dramatist James Boaden , quoted Reynolds's Seventh and Thirteenth Discourses in an attempt to classify the special nature of his acting .sx Boaden referred to Kemble's method as " academic or critical " , and distinguished between the " academic " and " vulgar " styles of performance , just as Reynolds had polarized the " academic " and " vulgar " styles of painting in his Discourses .sx The appropriation of Reynolds's terminology was more than simple plagiarism .sx Establishing Kemble's credentials , even in retrospect , was crucial , as from the end of the eighteenth century the stage was seen as having a political as well as moral purpose , " animating by example the love of a country , public courage , and all those virtues that must grace the English character , keep them free from the yoke of foreign tyranny and that unparalleled catalogue of vices existing in a neighbouring nation " .sx Drury Lane was under the management of the Whig and sometimes radical Sheridan , and when Kemble purchased part of the rival theatre Covent Garden in 1803 , popular polemic saw him either as representative of ancient virtues , order and hierarchy , or as tyrannical and autocratic - both contrasting with Sheridan's policies .sx As a manager Kemble was attacked for his " want of respect for the public " and " aristocratic impulse " or praised for his disdain for popular opinion .sx Both detractors and defenders contrasted Kemble's aloofness with the populism of Sheridan , who put the desires of the majority of his audience for proper seating and accessible entertainment before those of the privileged few .sx