I recently found myself asking the question, who is Mrs. Yates?
To begin, she is the subject of a small ink sketch purchased by the OJAC in 1982. Mrs. Yates as the Tragic Muse was drawn by George Romney, an 18th century British society portrait painter. Shown in neo-classical dress, this image of Mrs. Yates is most likely a page from one of Romney's sketchbooks. The faint lines of two other figures drawn on the back of the page show through the thin paper.
Mrs. Yates (aka Mary Ann Graham Yates, 1728–1787) was a well-known actress in British theatre. The daughter of William and Mary Graham, she married the English comic actor, Richard Yates, sometime around 1756. Over the latter half of the 18th century, Mary Ann Yates would become the leading tragic actress of the English stage. At the time of this portrait sketch, she was nearly 20 years into her acting career. Mary Ann Yates was well known for her roles as Shakespearian heroines, but here she is depicted as the Greek Muse of Tragedy.
My 21st-century-self struggled with the fact that she is identified as "Mrs." Yates rather than by her full given name. However, the title of Mrs., pronounced “mistress,” was for centuries applied to all adult women of higher social status, whether married or not. This understanding of the term (which was how it was used in the 18th century), makes it clear that ‘Mrs.’ was more likely to indicate a businesswoman than a married woman—or in this case, both.
Amy Kelly, Registrar
GEORGE ROMNEY, Mrs. Yates as the Tragic Muse, c. 1771, Ink on paper, OJAC Collection, Museum purchase. 1982.011