Elizabeth Siddal: Difference between revisions
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'''Elizabeth Eleanor Siddall''' (25 July 1829 – 11 February 1862) was an [[English people|English]] [[Model (art)|artists' model]], [[artist]], and [[poet]]. She was painted and drawn extensively by artists of the [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood]], including [[Walter Deverell]], [[William Holman Hunt]], [[John Everett Millais]] (including his notable 1852 painting ''[[Ophelia (painting)|Ophelia]]'') and her husband, [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]] |
'''Elizabeth Eleanor Siddall''' (25 July 1829 – 11 February 1862) was an [[English people|English]] [[Model (art)|artists' model]], [[artist]], and [[poet]]. She was painted and drawn extensively by artists of the [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood]], including [[Walter Deverell]], [[William Holman Hunt]], [[John Everett Millais]] (including his notable 1852 painting ''[[Ophelia (painting)|Ophelia]]'') and her husband, [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]]. An important and influential artist and poet in her own right, significant collections of her artworks can be found at [[Wightwick Manor]] and the [[Ashmolean]]. |
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==Early life== |
==Early life== |
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Elizabeth Eleanor Siddall, named after her mother, was born on 25 July 1829, at the family’s home at 7 Charles Street, Hatton Garden. Her parents were Charles Crooke Siddall, and Eleanor Evans, from a family of English and Welsh descent. At the time of her birth, her father had a cutlery-making business but around 1831, her family moved to the borough of Southwark, in south London, a less salubrious area than Hatton Garden. The rest of Siddall's siblings were born in Southwark; Lydia, to whom she was particularly close; Mary, Clara, James and Henry. Although there is no record of Elizabeth Siddall having attended school, she could read and write, presumably having been taught by her parents. She developed a love of poetry at a young age, after discovering a poem by [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson|Tennyson]], which served as inspiration to start writing her own poems. |
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==Model for the Pre-Raphaelites== |
==Model for the Pre-Raphaelites== |
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The spelling 'Siddall' was changed to Siddal when Dante Gabriel Rossetti dropped the second 'l'. She first met [[Walter Deverell]] in 1849, while she was working as a milliner in Cranbourne Alley, London. Whether Siddall had any artistic aspirations is unknown, though she loved poetry. She was employed as a model by Deverell and through him was introduced to the Pre-Raphaelites. [[William Michael Rossetti]], her brother-in-law, described her as "a most beautiful creature with an air between dignity and sweetness with something that exceeded modest self-respect and partook of disdainful reserve; tall, finely-formed with a lofty neck and regular yet somewhat uncommon features, greenish-blue unsparkling eyes, large perfect eyelids, brilliant complexion and a lavish heavy wealth of coppery golden hair."{{Sfn | Ash | 1995 | p = 4}} |
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Siddall first met [[Walter Deverell]] in 1849, while she was working as a milliner in Cranbourne Alley, London. Whether Siddall had any artistic aspirations is unknown, though she loved poetry. She was employed as a model by Deverell and through him was introduced to the Pre-Raphaelites. |
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⚫ | Though she was later touted for her beauty, Siddall was originally chosen as a model because of her plainness. At the time, Deverell was working on a large oil painting depicting a scene from ''[[Twelfth Night]]'', showing Orsino, Feste, and Viola as Cesario. Like the rest of the Pre-Raphaelites, Deverell took his inspiration and forms from life rather than from an idealized or antique figure. He based his Orsino on himself, Feste on his friend [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti|Dante Rossetti]]. All that remained was to find a girl who could dress as a boy. |
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⚫ | Though she was later touted for her beauty, Siddall was originally chosen as a model because of her plainness. At the time, Deverell was working on a large oil painting depicting a scene from ''[[Twelfth Night]]'', showing Orsino, Feste, and Viola as Cesario. Like the rest of the Pre-Raphaelites, Deverell took his inspiration and forms from life rather than from an idealized or antique figure. He based his Orsino on himself, Feste on his friend [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti|Dante Rossetti]]. All that remained was to find a girl who could dress as a boy. This was the first painting Siddall ever sat for.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Marsh|first1=Jan|title=The Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood|date=1985|publisher=St. Martin's Press|location=New York|isbn=0312637381}}</ref> |
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[[File:John Everett Millais - Ophelia - Google Art Project.jpg|right|thumb|<center>Elizabeth Siddall was the model for Sir John Everett Millais's ''[[Ophelia (painting)|Ophelia]]''.]] |
[[File:John Everett Millais - Ophelia - Google Art Project.jpg|right|thumb|<center>Elizabeth Siddall was the model for Sir John Everett Millais's ''[[Ophelia (painting)|Ophelia]]''.]] |
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While posing for Millais' ''Ophelia'' in 1852, Siddall floated in a bathtub full of water to represent the drowning Ophelia. Millais painted daily into the winter putting lamps under the tub to warm the water. On one occasion the lamps went out and the water became icy cold. Millais, absorbed by his painting, did not notice and Siddall did not complain. After this she became very ill with a severe [[common cold|cold]] or [[pneumonia]]. Her father held Millais responsible and, under the threat of legal action, Millais paid her doctor's bills. |
While posing for Millais' ''Ophelia'' in 1852, Siddall floated in a bathtub full of water to represent the drowning Ophelia. Millais painted daily into the winter putting lamps under the tub to warm the water. On one occasion the lamps went out and the water became icy cold. Millais, absorbed by his painting, did not notice and Siddall did not complain. After this she became very ill with a severe [[common cold|cold]] or [[pneumonia]]. Her father held Millais responsible and, under the threat of legal action, Millais paid her doctor's bills. |
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Elizabeth Siddall was the primary muse for [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]] throughout most of his youth. Rossetti met her in 1849, when she was modelling for Deverell |
Elizabeth Siddall was the primary model and muse for [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]] throughout most of his youth. Rossetti met her in 1849, when she was modelling for Deverell. By 1851, she was sitting for Rossetti and he began to paint her to the exclusion of almost all other models. Rossetti also stopped her from modelling for the other Pre-Raphaelites. The number of paintings he did of her are said to number in the thousands.<ref name="HawksleyPage96">{{Harvnb | Hawksley | 2000 | p = 96}}.</ref> Rossetti's drawings and paintings of Siddall culminated in ''[[Beata Beatrix]]'' which shows a praying Beatrice (from [[Dante Alighieri]]) painted in 1863, a year after her death. |
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== Work == |
== Work == |
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After becoming engaged to Rossetti, Siddall began to study with him. |
After becoming engaged to Rossetti, Siddall began to study with him. She also painted a self-portrait, which differs from the idealised beauty portrayed by the Pre-Raphaelites. It is significant because it shows her features through her own eyes, not idealised as in the majority of portraits. In 1855, art critic [[John Ruskin]] began to subsidise her career and paid £150 per year in exchange for all the drawings and paintings she produced. She produced many sketches and watercolours as well as one oil painting. Her sketches are laid out in a fashion similar to Pre-Rapaelite compositions illustrating Arthurian legend and other idealized [[medieval]] themes. During this period Siddall began to write poetry, often with dark themes about lost love or the impossibility of true love. "Her verses were as simple and moving as ancient ballads; her drawings were as genuine in their medieval spirit as much more highly finished and competent works of Pre-Raphaelite art," wrote critic [[William Gaunt (art historian)|William Gaunt]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=i7a0AAAAIAAJ&q=%22spirit+as+much+more+highly+finished%22&dq=%22spirit+as+much+more+highly+finished%22&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y|title=The Pre-Raphaelite Dream|last1=Gaunt|first1=William|publisher=Schocken|year=1966|isbn=080520119X|location=New York|page=64|access-date=25 September 2016}}</ref> Both Rossetti and Ford Madox Brown supported and admired her work. |
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==Marriage to Rossetti and Relationship with Rossetti's Family== |
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{{refimprove section|date = January 2015}} |
{{refimprove section|date = January 2015}} |
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Siddall and Rossetti were married on Wednesday, May 23 1860 at St. Clement's Church in the seaside town of [[Hastings]]. There were no family or friends present, just a couple of witnesses whom they had asked in Hastings. |
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Beginning in 1853, with a watercolour, ''The First Anniversary of the Death of Beatrice'', Rossetti painted Siddall in many works. In this piece, she portrays a regal woman visiting the distinguished Dante as he writes his autobiography. Too absorbed with his overwhelming passion for Beatrice, Dante initially fails to notice the other people present in the room. Wearing a long, tailored blue gown and a teal headdress, she clearly occupies a position of considerable rank and beauty. After this work, Rossetti used Siddall in other Dante-related pieces, including ''Dante's Vision of Rachel and Leah'' (1855) and ''Beatrice Meeting Dante at a Marriage Feast, Denies him her Salutation'' (1851). In the latter painting, Siddall represented Dante's obsession, Beatrice wearing a distinguished, long green dress and possessed exquisite beauty. Surrounded by throngs of supporters, she confronts Dante with a defiance that attests to her authority. |
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Beginning in 1853 with a watercolour ''The First Anniversary of the Death of Beatrice'', Siddall sat for many of Rossetti's works. After this work, Rossetti used Siddall in other Dante-related pieces, including ''Dante's Vision of Rachel and Leah'' (1855), ''Beatrice Meeting Dante at a Marriage Feast, Denies him her Salutation'' (1851), and Beata Beatrix (1864-70), which he painted as a memorial after her death. Perhaps Rossetti's most abundant and personal works were pencil sketches of Siddall at home, which he began in 1852 when she moved into Chatham Place with him. |
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[[File:Siddal-self-portrait.jpg|thumb|right|Elizabeth Siddall in an 1854 self-portrait.]] |
[[File:Siddal-self-portrait.jpg|thumb|right|Elizabeth Siddall in an 1854 self-portrait.]] |
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[[File:Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Beata Beatrix, 1864-1870.jpg|left|thumb|<center>Dante Gabriel Rossetti completed ''Beata Beatrix'' a year after Siddall's death.]] |
[[File:Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Beata Beatrix, 1864-1870.jpg|left|thumb|<center>Dante Gabriel Rossetti completed ''Beata Beatrix'' a year after Siddall's death.]] |
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Rossetti drew countless sketches and painted and repainted her. Rossetti represented Siddall as Dante's Beatrice in one of his most famous works, ''Beata Beatrix'' (1864–[[1870|70]]), which he painted as a memorial after her death. The piece mimicked the death of Dante's love in his autobiographical work, ''Vita Nuova''. In it, amidst a yellow haze of relatively indistinct shapes, including the [[Ponte Vecchio]] in Florence and figures of Dante and Love, Siddall sits, representing Dante's Beatrice. With an upturned chin and closed eyes, she appears keenly aware of her impending fate—death. A bird, which serves as the messenger of death, places a poppy in her hands. Critics have praised the piece for its emotional resonance, which can be felt simply through the work's moving colouring and composition. The true history of Rossetti and his beloved wife further deepens its meaning; although their love had waned at that point, Siddall still exerted a powerful influence on the artist. |
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[[File:Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Elizabeth Siddal Seated at an Easel.jpg|thumb|right|A drawing by Rossetti of Siddall painting]] |
[[File:Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Elizabeth Siddal Seated at an Easel.jpg|thumb|right|A drawing by Rossetti of Siddall painting]] |
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When the two moved in together, they became increasingly anti-social and absorbed in each other's affections. The lovers coined affectionate nicknames for one another, which included "Guggums" or "Gug" and "Dove" – one of Rossetti's names for Siddall. He also changed the spelling of her name to Siddal, dropping the second 'l'. Siddall was repeatedly idealized in Rossetti's sketches, most of which he entitled simply "Elizabeth Siddal." In these sketches, Siddall was portrayed as a woman of leisure, class, and beauty, often situated in comfortable settings. Rossetti's poem ''A Last Confession'' exemplifies his love for Siddall, whom he personifies as the heroine with eyes "as of the sea and sky on a grey day."{{citation needed|date = January 2015}} |
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[[File:Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Regina Cordium (1860).jpg|thumb|left|''Regina Cordium''—Rossetti's Marriage portrait of Siddall]] |
[[File:Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Regina Cordium (1860).jpg|thumb|left|''Regina Cordium''—Rossetti's Marriage portrait of Siddall]] |
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Another famous portrait of Siddall produced by Rossetti towards the end of their marriage was ''Regina Cordium'' or ''The Queen of Hearts ''(1860). Painted as a marriage portrait, this painting shows a close-up, vibrantly coloured depiction of Siddall.{{citation needed|date = January 2015}} |
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In both his art and writings, Rossetti exalted Siddall. His period of great poetic production began when he met her and ended around the time of her death (Douchy, 155). His poem "A Last Confession" exemplifies his love for Siddall, whom he personifies as the heroine with eyes "as of the sea and sky on a grey day." In this piece, a man's affections for a young girl progress from parental to romantic as the girl ages. |
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Elizabeth Siddall's prominence in Rossetti's works decreased as their love faded and she became increasingly ill. As ''Beata Beatrix'' shows, however, Rossetti never forgot his love for his wife, even after her death. Another famous work he produced toward the end of their marriage was his ''Regina Cordium'' or ''The Queen of Hearts ''(1860). Painted as a marriage portrait, this painting shows a close-up, vibrantly coloured depiction of Siddall. Her shiny, golden hair complements the light orange hue of her heart necklace, and, with an upturned chin, she embodies the regal air implied by the title. Such flattering portraits truly reflected Rossetti's undying affection for his wife.{{citation needed|date = January 2015}} |
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==Relationship with Rossetti's family== |
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As Siddall came from a working-class family, Rossetti feared introducing her to his parents. Siddall was the victim of harsh criticism from his sisters. Knowledge that his family would not approve the marriage contributed to Rossetti putting it off. Siddall appears to have believed, with some justification, that Rossetti was always seeking to replace her with a younger muse, which contributed to her later depressive periods and illness. |
As Siddall came from a working-class family, Rossetti feared introducing her to his parents. Siddall was the victim of harsh criticism from his sisters. Knowledge that his family would not approve the marriage contributed to Rossetti putting it off. Siddall appears to have believed, with some justification, that Rossetti was always seeking to replace her with a younger muse, which contributed to her later depressive periods and illness. |
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Rossetti's relationship with Siddall is explored by [[Christina Rossetti]] (Dante's sister) in her poem "In an Artist's Studio": |
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<poem>One face looks out from all his canvases, |
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One selfsame figure sits or walks or leans: |
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We found her hidden just behind those screens, |
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That mirror gave back all her loveliness. |
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A queen in opal or in ruby dress, |
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A nameless girl in freshest summer-greens, |
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A saint, an angel – every canvas means |
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The same one meaning, neither more nor less. |
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He feeds upon her face by day and night, |
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And she with true kind eyes looks back on him, |
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Fair as the moon and joyful as the light: |
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Not wan with waiting, not with sorrow dim; |
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Not as she is, but was when hope shone bright; |
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Not as she is, but as she fills his dream.</poem> |
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Siddall travelled to [[Paris]] and [[Nice]] for several years for her health. She returned to England in 1860 to marry Rossetti. Their wedding took place on Wednesday 23 May 1860 at St Clement's Church in the seaside town of [[Hastings]]. There were no family or friends present, just a couple of witnesses whom they had asked in Hastings. At the time of their wedding, she was so frail and ill that she had to be carried to the church, despite it being a five-minute walk from where she was staying. There is a sanctuary lamp in the church commemorating the wedding and a memorial to Rossetti. After the wedding, as soon as Siddall was well enough, they left for a honeymoon in France. |
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⚫ | Siddall overdosed on laudanum in the early months of 1862. Rossetti discovered her unconscious and dying in bed after having had dinner with her and his friend [[Algernon Charles Swinburne]]. After having taken Siddall home, Rossetti attended his usual teaching job at the Working Men's College. Once Rossetti returned home from teaching, he found Siddall unconscious and was unable to revive her. The first doctor Rossetti called claimed to be unable to save her, upon which Rossetti sent for another three doctors. A stomach pump was used, but to no avail. She died at 7.20 a.m. on February 11, 1862 at their home at 14 Chatham Place, now demolished and covered by [[Blackfriars Station]]. Although her death was ruled accidental by the coroner, there are suggestions that Rossetti found a suicide note. Consumed with grief and guilt Rossetti went to see [[Ford Madox Brown]] who is supposed to have instructed him to burn the note, since suicide was illegal, immoral, would have brought scandal on the family and bar Siddall from a Christian burial. |
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⚫ | [[File:Ms eng 769.jpg|thumb|One of three surviving leaves from the book of poetry buried with Elizabeth Siddall. Praise and prayer: manuscript, before 1862<ref>{{Citation | url = http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:5125277 | title = Harvard}}.</ref> MS Eng 769. Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.]] |
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Overcome with grief, Rossetti enclosed in his wife's [[coffin]] a journal containing the only copy he had of his many poems. He supposedly slid the book into Siddall's red hair. She was interred at [[Highgate Cemetery]] in London. By 1869, Rossetti was chronically addicted to drugs and alcohol. He had convinced himself he was going blind and couldn't paint. He began to write poetry. Before publishing his newer poems he became obsessed with retrieving the poems he had slipped into his wife's coffin. Rossetti and his agent, [[Charles Augustus Howell]], applied to the Home Secretary for an order to have her coffin exhumed. It was done in the dead of night to avoid public curiosity and Rossetti was not present. Howell reported that her corpse was remarkably well preserved and her delicate beauty intact, probably as a result of the laudanum. Her hair was said to have continued to grow after death so that the coffin was filled with her flowing coppery hair. The manuscript was retrieved although a worm had burrowed through the book so that some of the poems were difficult to read. Rossetti published the old poems with his newer ones; they were not well received by some critics because of their eroticism and he was haunted by the exhumation through the rest of his life. |
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<poem>What of her glass without her? The blank grey |
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There where the pool is blind of the moon's face. |
There where the pool is blind of the moon's face. |
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Her dress without her? The tossed empty space |
Her dress without her? The tossed empty space |
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:— From ''Without Her''</poem> |
:— From ''Without Her''</poem> |
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⚫ | Siddall travelled to [[Paris]] and [[Nice]] for several years for her health. At the time of her wedding, she was so frail and ill that she had to be carried to the church, despite it being a five-minute walk from where she was staying. It was thought that she suffered from [[tuberculosis]], but some historians believe an intestinal disorder was more likely. Others have suggested she might have been [[anorexic]] while others attribute her poor health to an addiction to [[laudanum]] or a combination of ailments.{{Sfn | Ash | 1995 | pp = 4, 7}} Stress from Rossetti's unfaithfulness had affected her and she used her frequent and serious illnesses to blackmail him.<ref name="HawksleyPage96" /> She became [[depression (mood)|severely depressed]] and her long illness gave her access to [[laudanum]] to which she became addicted. In 1861, Siddall became pregnant, which ended with the birth of a stillborn daughter. The death of her child left Siddall with a post-partum depression. She became pregnant for a second time in late 1861. |
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⚫ | Siddall overdosed on laudanum in the early months of 1862. Rossetti discovered her unconscious and dying in bed after having had dinner with her and his friend [[Algernon Charles Swinburne]]. After having taken Siddall home, Rossetti attended his usual teaching job at the Working Men's College. Once Rossetti returned home from teaching, he found Siddall unconscious and was unable to revive her. The first doctor Rossetti called claimed to be unable to save her, upon which Rossetti sent for another three doctors. A stomach pump was used, but to no avail. She died at 7.20 a.m. on February 11, 1862 at their home at 14 Chatham Place, now demolished and covered by [[Blackfriars Station]]. Although her death was ruled accidental by the coroner, there are suggestions that Rossetti found a suicide note. Consumed with grief and guilt Rossetti went to see [[Ford Madox Brown]] who is supposed to have instructed him to burn the note, since suicide was illegal, immoral, would have brought scandal on the family and bar Siddall from a Christian burial. |
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⚫ | [[File:Ms eng 769.jpg|thumb|One of three surviving leaves from the book of poetry buried with Elizabeth Siddall. Praise and prayer: manuscript, before 1862<ref>{{Citation | url = http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:5125277 | title = Harvard}}.</ref> MS Eng 769. Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.]] |
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==In fiction, drama and song== |
==In fiction, drama and song== |
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Rossetti's relationship with Siddall has been the subject of television dramas, notably ''[[Dante's Inferno (1967 TV film)|Dante's Inferno]]'' (1967), by [[Ken Russell]], in which she was played by Judith Paris and Rossetti by [[Oliver Reed]]; ''[[The Love School]]'' (1975) in which she was played by [[Patricia Quinn]]; and ''[[Desperate Romantics]]'' (2009) in which she was played by [[Amy Manson]]. |
Rossetti's relationship with Siddall has been the subject of television dramas, notably ''[[Dante's Inferno (1967 TV film)|Dante's Inferno]]'' (1967), by [[Ken Russell]], in which she was played by Judith Paris and Rossetti by [[Oliver Reed]]; ''[[The Love School]]'' (1975) in which she was played by [[Patricia Quinn]]; and ''[[Desperate Romantics]]'' (2009) in which she was played by [[Amy Manson]]. |
Revision as of 23:12, 3 March 2018
Elizabeth Siddall | |
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![]() Elizabeth Siddall, circa 1860 | |
Born | London, England | 25 July 1829
Died | 11 February 1862 London, England | (aged 32)
Occupation(s) | artist, artist's model |
Spouse | Dante Gabriel Rossetti |
Parent(s) | Charles Crooke Siddall and Elizabeth Eleanor Siddall (née Evans) |
Elizabeth Eleanor Siddall (25 July 1829 – 11 February 1862) was an English artists' model, artist, and poet. She was painted and drawn extensively by artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, including Walter Deverell, William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais (including his notable 1852 painting Ophelia) and her husband, Dante Gabriel Rossetti. An important and influential artist and poet in her own right, significant collections of her artworks can be found at Wightwick Manor and the Ashmolean.
Early life
Elizabeth Eleanor Siddall, named after her mother, was born on 25 July 1829, at the family’s home at 7 Charles Street, Hatton Garden. Her parents were Charles Crooke Siddall, and Eleanor Evans, from a family of English and Welsh descent. At the time of her birth, her father had a cutlery-making business but around 1831, her family moved to the borough of Southwark, in south London, a less salubrious area than Hatton Garden. The rest of Siddall's siblings were born in Southwark; Lydia, to whom she was particularly close; Mary, Clara, James and Henry. Although there is no record of Elizabeth Siddall having attended school, she could read and write, presumably having been taught by her parents. She developed a love of poetry at a young age, after discovering a poem by Tennyson, which served as inspiration to start writing her own poems.
Model for the Pre-Raphaelites
When she started work as an artist's model, Siddall was in the enviable position of working at Mrs Tozer’s millinery part-time and was thus ensured a regular wage even if modelling did not work out, an unusual opportunity for a woman of her time.
Siddall first met Walter Deverell in 1849, while she was working as a milliner in Cranbourne Alley, London. Whether Siddall had any artistic aspirations is unknown, though she loved poetry. She was employed as a model by Deverell and through him was introduced to the Pre-Raphaelites.
Though she was later touted for her beauty, Siddall was originally chosen as a model because of her plainness. At the time, Deverell was working on a large oil painting depicting a scene from Twelfth Night, showing Orsino, Feste, and Viola as Cesario. Like the rest of the Pre-Raphaelites, Deverell took his inspiration and forms from life rather than from an idealized or antique figure. He based his Orsino on himself, Feste on his friend Dante Rossetti. All that remained was to find a girl who could dress as a boy. This was the first painting Siddall ever sat for.[1]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/John_Everett_Millais_-_Ophelia_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg/220px-John_Everett_Millais_-_Ophelia_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)
While posing for Millais' Ophelia in 1852, Siddall floated in a bathtub full of water to represent the drowning Ophelia. Millais painted daily into the winter putting lamps under the tub to warm the water. On one occasion the lamps went out and the water became icy cold. Millais, absorbed by his painting, did not notice and Siddall did not complain. After this she became very ill with a severe cold or pneumonia. Her father held Millais responsible and, under the threat of legal action, Millais paid her doctor's bills.
Elizabeth Siddall was the primary model and muse for Dante Gabriel Rossetti throughout most of his youth. Rossetti met her in 1849, when she was modelling for Deverell. By 1851, she was sitting for Rossetti and he began to paint her to the exclusion of almost all other models. Rossetti also stopped her from modelling for the other Pre-Raphaelites. The number of paintings he did of her are said to number in the thousands.[2] Rossetti's drawings and paintings of Siddall culminated in Beata Beatrix which shows a praying Beatrice (from Dante Alighieri) painted in 1863, a year after her death.
Work
After becoming engaged to Rossetti, Siddall began to study with him. She also painted a self-portrait, which differs from the idealised beauty portrayed by the Pre-Raphaelites. It is significant because it shows her features through her own eyes, not idealised as in the majority of portraits. In 1855, art critic John Ruskin began to subsidise her career and paid £150 per year in exchange for all the drawings and paintings she produced. She produced many sketches and watercolours as well as one oil painting. Her sketches are laid out in a fashion similar to Pre-Rapaelite compositions illustrating Arthurian legend and other idealized medieval themes. During this period Siddall began to write poetry, often with dark themes about lost love or the impossibility of true love. "Her verses were as simple and moving as ancient ballads; her drawings were as genuine in their medieval spirit as much more highly finished and competent works of Pre-Raphaelite art," wrote critic William Gaunt.[3] Both Rossetti and Ford Madox Brown supported and admired her work.
Marriage to Rossetti and Relationship with Rossetti's Family
This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2015) |
Siddall and Rossetti were married on Wednesday, May 23 1860 at St. Clement's Church in the seaside town of Hastings. There were no family or friends present, just a couple of witnesses whom they had asked in Hastings.
Beginning in 1853 with a watercolour The First Anniversary of the Death of Beatrice, Siddall sat for many of Rossetti's works. After this work, Rossetti used Siddall in other Dante-related pieces, including Dante's Vision of Rachel and Leah (1855), Beatrice Meeting Dante at a Marriage Feast, Denies him her Salutation (1851), and Beata Beatrix (1864-70), which he painted as a memorial after her death. Perhaps Rossetti's most abundant and personal works were pencil sketches of Siddall at home, which he began in 1852 when she moved into Chatham Place with him.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ad/Siddal-self-portrait.jpg/220px-Siddal-self-portrait.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/Dante_Gabriel_Rossetti_-_Beata_Beatrix%2C_1864-1870.jpg/220px-Dante_Gabriel_Rossetti_-_Beata_Beatrix%2C_1864-1870.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/Dante_Gabriel_Rossetti_-_Elizabeth_Siddal_Seated_at_an_Easel.jpg/220px-Dante_Gabriel_Rossetti_-_Elizabeth_Siddal_Seated_at_an_Easel.jpg)
When the two moved in together, they became increasingly anti-social and absorbed in each other's affections. The lovers coined affectionate nicknames for one another, which included "Guggums" or "Gug" and "Dove" – one of Rossetti's names for Siddall. He also changed the spelling of her name to Siddal, dropping the second 'l'. Siddall was repeatedly idealized in Rossetti's sketches, most of which he entitled simply "Elizabeth Siddal." In these sketches, Siddall was portrayed as a woman of leisure, class, and beauty, often situated in comfortable settings. Rossetti's poem A Last Confession exemplifies his love for Siddall, whom he personifies as the heroine with eyes "as of the sea and sky on a grey day."[citation needed]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9b/Dante_Gabriel_Rossetti_-_Regina_Cordium_%281860%29.jpg/220px-Dante_Gabriel_Rossetti_-_Regina_Cordium_%281860%29.jpg)
Another famous portrait of Siddall produced by Rossetti towards the end of their marriage was Regina Cordium or The Queen of Hearts (1860). Painted as a marriage portrait, this painting shows a close-up, vibrantly coloured depiction of Siddall.[citation needed]
As Siddall came from a working-class family, Rossetti feared introducing her to his parents. Siddall was the victim of harsh criticism from his sisters. Knowledge that his family would not approve the marriage contributed to Rossetti putting it off. Siddall appears to have believed, with some justification, that Rossetti was always seeking to replace her with a younger muse, which contributed to her later depressive periods and illness.
Seven years after his wife's death, Rossetti published a collection of sonnets entitled The House of Life; contained within it was the poem, "Without Her". It is a reflection on life once love has departed:
What of her glass without her? The blank grey
There where the pool is blind of the moon's face.
Her dress without her? The tossed empty space
Of cloud-rack whence the moon has passed away.
Her paths without her? Day's appointed sway
Usurped by desolate night. Her pillowed place
Without her? Tears, ah me! For love's good grace,
And cold forgetfulness of night or day.
What of the heart without her? Nay, poor heart,
Of thee what word remains ere speech be still?
A wayfarer by barren ways and chill,
Steep ways and weary, without her thou art,
Where the long cloud, the long wood's counterpart,
Sheds doubled up darkness up the labouring hill.
— From Without Her
Marriage, ill-health and death
Siddall travelled to Paris and Nice for several years for her health. At the time of her wedding, she was so frail and ill that she had to be carried to the church, despite it being a five-minute walk from where she was staying. It was thought that she suffered from tuberculosis, but some historians believe an intestinal disorder was more likely. Others have suggested she might have been anorexic while others attribute her poor health to an addiction to laudanum or a combination of ailments.[4] Stress from Rossetti's unfaithfulness had affected her and she used her frequent and serious illnesses to blackmail him.[2] She became severely depressed and her long illness gave her access to laudanum to which she became addicted. In 1861, Siddall became pregnant, which ended with the birth of a stillborn daughter. The death of her child left Siddall with a post-partum depression. She became pregnant for a second time in late 1861.
Siddall overdosed on laudanum in the early months of 1862. Rossetti discovered her unconscious and dying in bed after having had dinner with her and his friend Algernon Charles Swinburne. After having taken Siddall home, Rossetti attended his usual teaching job at the Working Men's College. Once Rossetti returned home from teaching, he found Siddall unconscious and was unable to revive her. The first doctor Rossetti called claimed to be unable to save her, upon which Rossetti sent for another three doctors. A stomach pump was used, but to no avail. She died at 7.20 a.m. on February 11, 1862 at their home at 14 Chatham Place, now demolished and covered by Blackfriars Station. Although her death was ruled accidental by the coroner, there are suggestions that Rossetti found a suicide note. Consumed with grief and guilt Rossetti went to see Ford Madox Brown who is supposed to have instructed him to burn the note, since suicide was illegal, immoral, would have brought scandal on the family and bar Siddall from a Christian burial.
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In fiction, drama and song
Rossetti's relationship with Siddall has been the subject of television dramas, notably Dante's Inferno (1967), by Ken Russell, in which she was played by Judith Paris and Rossetti by Oliver Reed; The Love School (1975) in which she was played by Patricia Quinn; and Desperate Romantics (2009) in which she was played by Amy Manson.
Mollie Hardwick (author of Upstairs, Downstairs) wrote a mystery novel entitled The Dreaming Damozel in 1990.[6] The plot follows antique dealer Doran Fairweather, who is elated to find a small oil painting she believes to be of Elizabeth Siddall but is shocked when she happens on the body of a girl, floating dead in a pond. The death scene mimics the Millais painting of Ophelia featuring Elizabeth Siddall. Doran' excited by the coincidence and mystery, ignores the advice of her husband who warns her the story of Rossetti and Siddall was plagued by unhappiness.[7]
In Tim Powers' 2012 novel Hide Me Among the Graves, Siddall is a victim of the vampire John Polidori, her husband's uncle and author of what is likely the first vampire story. This becomes an explanation for her illness and death, as well as for her husband's exhumation of her grave, which is not to regain his poems but is part of a strategy to defeat the vampire.[8]
Ghostland is a 2001 album by the Seattle neo-psychedelic band The Goblin Market named after a poem by Christina Rossetti, and the album is inspired by the exhumation of Elizabeth Siddall.
Elizabeth Siddall, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Algernon Charles Swinburne are the subjects of the short comics story How They Met Themselves, by Neil Gaiman, drawn by Michael Zulli, and published in Vertigo: Winter's Edge #3 (2000). The title makes reference to the Rossetti's 1864 painting. In it, a dying Elizabeth drugged with laudanum revives the last New Year's Day, in which the trio had a train trip to a magic forest owned by Desire, the androgynous sibling of Sandman.[9]
Lizzie Siddall, a play written by Jeremy Green, was performed at the Arcola Theatre, London in 2013.[10]
Ophelia's Muse, a work of art historical fiction by Rita Cameron that was published in September 2015 by Kensington Press, tells the story of Siddall and the Pre-Raphelites.
Sleep, Pale Sister, a Gothic novel set in the Victorian art world by the author Joanne Harris, draws heavily on the character of Siddall and her relationship with Rossetti, and Fiona Mountain's 2002 mystery novel, Pale as the Dead centres a "genealogical mystery" around the fictional descendants of Elizabeth Siddall and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. [11]
Notes
- ^ Marsh, Jan (1985). The Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312637381.
- ^ a b Hawksley 2000, p. 96.
- ^ Gaunt, William (1966). The Pre-Raphaelite Dream. New York: Schocken. p. 64. ISBN 080520119X. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
- ^ Ash 1995, pp. 4, 7.
- ^ Harvard.
- ^ "Hardwick, M", British Crime Writers List, NL: XS4 all.
- ^ Hardwick, Mollie (1990). The Dreaming Damozel ISBN 0-8161-5323-X
- ^ Powers, Tim (2012). Hide Me Amongst the Graves ISBN 0-06-123154-1
- ^ Roeberg, Shelly, ed. (2000), "Winter's Edge", Vertigo, vol. 3, 1700 Broadway, New York, NY 10019: DC Comics, Barcode 76194121118300311
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location (link). - ^ Lizzie Siddal, Arcola theatre.
- ^ Mountain 2002.
References
- Ash, Russell (1995), Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Harry N Abrams, ISBN 0-8109-3784-0.
- Cherry, Deborah (1993), Painting Women: Victorian Women Artists, London: Routledge, ISBN 0-415-06053-2.
- Daly, Gay (1989). Pre-Raphaelites in Love, New York: Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 0-89919-450-8.
- Gaunt, William (1966). Pre-Raphaelite Dream, Schocken Books, ASIN B000OJUC5K
- Lewis, Roger C. & Lasner, Mark Samuels (Eds.) (1978). Poems and Drawings of Elizabeth Siddall, Wolfville, Nova Scotia: The Wombat Press. ISBN 0-9690828-0-0.
- Marsh, Jan (1992), The Legend of Elizabeth Siddal, London: Quartet, ISBN 0-7043-0170-9.
- Mountain, Fiona (2002), Pale as the Dead, Signet, ISBN 0-451-21617-2.
- Prose, Francine (2003), "Elizabeth Siddal", The Lives of the Muses, London: Aurum, pp. 99–136, ISBN 1-85410-944-8.
- Hawksley, Ludinda (2000), Essential Pre-Raphaelites, London: Parragon, ISBN 1-84084-524-4.
- ——— (2004), Lizzie Siddal: The Tragedy of a Pre-Raphaelite Supermodel, London: André Deutsch, ISBN 0-233-00050-X.
Further reading
- Correia, Hélia (2010). Adoecer, in Portuguese, Relógio d'Água, Portugal ISBN 978-989-641-160-2
- Morrissey, Kim (1998). Clever as Paint: The Rossettis in Love (playscript), Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press. ISBN 0-88754-552-1.
- Surtees, Virginia (1991). Rossetti's Portraits of Elizabeth Siddall, Aldershot: Scolar Press. ISBN 0-85967-885-7.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Selected Poetry of Elizabeth Siddall
- Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery's Pre-Raphaelite Online Resource includes many portraits of Elizabeth Siddall by Rossetti
- Portraits of Elizabeth Siddall from major Rossetti exhibition
- Letters written by Elizabeth Siddall
- Photographs of Elizabeth Siddall's grave
- Use dmy dates from March 2012
- 1829 births
- 1862 deaths
- People from London
- English artists' models
- Polidori-Rossetti family
- Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood artists' models
- Pre-Raphaelite painters
- Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
- Women of the Victorian era
- British women painters
- Burials at Highgate Cemetery
- Accidental deaths in England
- Drug-related deaths in England
- Victorian poets
- English women poets
- 19th-century British women writers
- 19th-century British writers
- 19th-century women artists
- 19th-century British painters
- Muse