associate of the Academy, receiving full membership in
1795. For twenty years and until his death, January 23, 1810, he was
extremely successful, and his productions, though less in number than
those of Reynolds, or his contemporary, Lawrence, were numerous. In
the course of thirty years he contributed one hundred and sixty-six
works to the Academy exhibitions. These were chiefly portraits
of women and children, and are marked by unaffected grace and
appreciation of character.

[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF A CHILD. FROM A PAINTING BY SIR THOMAS
LAWRENCE.

This picture, in the National Gallery, London, has inscribed on the
canvas: "Lady Giorgiana Fane; 1800. AEt 5." It shows Lawrence's method
of treating a child's portrait, in the style dear to our ancestors,
as a "fancy" portrait. It is also typical of his pronounced mannerism,
which would lead one to believe that before the days of photography
sitters were easily contented on the score of resemblance. The head
in this picture, for instance, is almost identical with that of
Napoleon's son in the "Roi de Rome," executed fifteen years later.]

[Illustration: MRS. SIDDONS. FROM A PAINTING BY SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE.

The greatest of all English actresses, at least in tragic parts--is
the common judgment on Mrs. Siddons. She was almost born and reared on
the stage, her father, Roger Kemble, being the manager of a travelling
company of actors, with one of whom, William Siddons, she had married
when she was eighteen. She was born at Brecon, in Wales, July 5, 1755,
and had already attained to some distinction as an actress in 1775,
when she made her first appearance in London. From then until her
retirement in 1812 her career was a succession of triumphs. She died
in London, June 8, 1831. Naturally, she was a favorite subject with
the portrait painters of her time. The sweet-faced girl shown in
the above portrait has as little resemblance to the stately lady of
Gainsborough, or the "Tragic Muse" of Sir Joshua Reynolds, as it has
to our imagination of what a "tragic queen" should be. The picture is,
nevertheless, a portrait of _the_ Mrs. Siddons, and was presented to
the National Gallery, London, where it now is, by her daughter, Mrs.
Cecelia Combe, in 1868.]

Time has enhanced the value of Hoppner's work somewhat at the expense
of his great rival, Lawrence. While the latter remains, from youth
to comparative old age, a most astonishing example of facile and
brilliant executi