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| Peltro William Tomkins after John Downman Mrs Siddons ca. 1780-1800 colour stipple engraving British Museum |
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| R. Page Mrs Siddons as Isabella in David Garrick's Isabella ca. 1782-1800 etching, engraving British Museum |
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| John Raphael Smith after Sir Thomas Lawrence Mrs Siddons as Zara in William Congreve's The Mourning Bride 1783 mezzotint British Museum |
"Mrs. Siddons greatest parts were Isabella in Garrick's version of Southerne's Fatal Marriage [also called Isabella], Lady Macbeth, Zara in Mourning Bride, Elvira, Constance, Queen Katharine, Belvidera, and Lady Randolph. She was probably the greatest actress this country has known, and it is indeed doubtful whether in any country she has had her superior or even her equal in tragedy. Her school, the 'Kemble school,' was what is known as declamatory. Its influence has been depreciated, but never demolished, and it is doubtful whether it has entirely yielded even to the genius of Rachel. Christopher North spoke of the 'divine, inspiring awe' which she evoked, and Hazlitt spoke of her, with a like enthusiasm, as 'not less than a goddess, or than a prophetess inspired by the gods. Power was seated on her brow, passion emanated from her breast as from a shrine.' More intelligible than these raptures is Tate Wilkinson's declaration, 'If you ask me "What is a queen?" I should say Mrs. Siddons.' Byron said that she was worth Cooke, Kemble, and Kean all put together. Lord Erskine declared her performance a school for oratory, asserting that he had studied her cadences and intonations, and was indebted to the harmony of her periods and pronunciation for his best displays. Haydon said that she always seemed to throw herself on nature as a guide, and follow instantaneously what it suggested. Many instances are given of the effect she produced not only on the audience, but on those with whom she acted. Charles Young, acting Beverley with her, says that he was so impressed as to lose his power of utterance. It was not until Mrs. Siddons said to him in a low voice, 'Mr. Young, recollect yourself,' that he recovered speech. Leigh Hunt calls her sleep-walking scene and her state of misery by the corpse of Beverley two of the sublimest pieces of acting on the English stage, and says that one of the marks she bears of a great actor is that she seems unconscious that there is a crowd called a pit waiting to applaud her, or that there are a dozen fiddlers waiting for her exit. If she had any shortcoming, he writes, it was in the amatory pathetic."
– John Joseph Knight, from the Dictionary of National Biography (1885-1900)
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| William Sharp after Thomas Stothard Mrs Siddons as Euphrasia in The Grecian Daughter 1783 etching, engraving British Museum |
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| John Ogborne after Sylvester Harding Mrs Siddons as Calista in Nicholas Rowe's The Fair Penitent 1783 colour stipple engraving and etching British Museum |
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| Thomas Cheesman after Richard Westall Mrs Siddons as Euphrasia in The Grecian Daughter ca. 1790-1820 colour stipple engraving and etching British Museum |
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| Thomas Ryder after Miss Langham Mrs Siddons as Jane Shore in Nicholas Rowe's Jane Shore 1790 stipple engraving British Museum |
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| Peltro William Tomkins after cut-paper silhouette by Elizabeth, Lady Templeton Mrs Siddons as Jane Shore in Nicholas Rowe's Jane Shore 1792 stipple engraving and etching British Museum |
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| Robert Dighton Mrs Siddons as Elvira in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's Pizarro 1799 hand-colored etching British Museum |
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| John Alais after Adam Buck Mrs Siddons as Hermione in The Winter's Tale 1802 etching British Museum |
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| George Clint after Sir Thomas Lawrence Mrs Siddons ca. 1800-1830 mezzotint Yale Center for British Art |
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| William Nicholis after Sir Thomas Lawrence Mrs Siddons 1810 colour stipple engraving and etching British Museum |
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| James Gillray Theatrical Mendicants Relieved 1809 hand-colored etching British Museum |
"John Philip Kemble followed by his brother Charles and his sister Mrs. Siddons holds out his hat, bowing, to the Duke of Northumberland, who stands at the gate of Northumberland House in the Strand. The great double gate is closed, an inset door opened, scarcely wide enough for the obese and clumsy Duke, who stands with one foot outside it, putting into Kemble's feathered hat a 'Draft for 10,000 Pounds'. . . . Behind, the front of Northumberland House is partly obscured by thick clouds of smoke from the fire of Covent Garden Theatre. . . . Covent Garden Theatre was burned down on 20 September 1808. The Duke of Northumberland offered Kemble a loan of £10,000 on his bond, which was returned to be destroyed at the dinner held to celebrate the laying of the foundation stone of the new theatre on 30 December 1808."
– curator's notes from the British Museum
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| Charles Williams Theatrical Jealousy, or, The Rival Queens of Covent Garden 1816 hand-colored etching British Museum |
"Mrs. Siddons (left), with sour irate expression and extended arms, walks towards Miss O'Neill (right), who stands in a dignified but theatrical pose, right arm raised, directed to the left. They are dressed in a similar fashion, which becomes the younger actress but not the older; both wear jewelled fillets in their hair, with three erect feathers and hanging drapery. Both are décolletée, with looped and trained overdresses; Mrs. Siddons, stout and ravaged by time, has a more ornate dress, which appears tawdry beside that of her rival. . . . On 6 and 22 June 1816 Mrs Siddons, who had retired from the stage in 1812, played Lady Macbeth at the request of Princess Charlotte. This was deplored in the Examiner, 16 June, in an article beginning: 'Players should be immortal, if their own wishes or ours could make them so; but they are not.' Eliza O'Neill (1791-1872), a much-admired tragic actress, made her debut at Covent Garden in 1814. Mrs. Siddons made occasional appearances in benefit performances, etc., in 1813, 1815, 1817, 1819, as well as 1816."
– curator's notes from the British Museum