Mrs. Susanna Cent-Livre
Engraved and published London by Peter Pelham American, born England
After D. Fermin British
Sitter Mrs. Susanna Centlivre British, born Ireland
Not on view
The sitter in this portrait was both actress and dramatist. Born in Ireland, she was said to have left home at fifteen and lived in Cambridge with an undergraduate Anthony Hammond, donning boy's attire so she could attend lectures. In London she began to act and write plays, notably "The Perjured Husband," "Love's Contrivance" (1703), and "The Wonder" (1714). An early marriage to a Mr. Fox was brief and a second union with an officer Carroll ended when he was killed in a duel. In 1724 or 1725, she married Joseph Centlivre.
