Elizabeth Siddal: Pre-Raphaelite Painter and Model

Elizabeth "Lizzie" Siddal was born in London on July 25, 1829.  She was born into a family with modest means but was educated, could read and write and like poetry.  She was also drawn to art and when she chose a job she worked for a milliner so that she could express her creativity.  Later she became a painter and a poet as well as a model for dozens of works of art for the Pre-Raphaelites.

Elizabeth Siddal. Dante Gabriel Rossetti, circa 1854. Wilmington, Delaware Art Museum

It was at the millinery shop that she met painter Walter Deverell who asked her to model for him in one of his paintings.  Through him she met some of the other "Pre-Raphaelites" such as William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti who all worked with her as a model.

Rossetti was the founder of a group of artists known as the "Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood" whose style changed the face of 19th century British art.  The Pre-Raphaelites took their inspiration from an earlier time (before the work of Raphael) and looked to Medieval and early Renaissance Art as well as Medieval literature such as the Italian poet Dante Alighieri after whom Rossetti was named.

After Lizzie and Rossetti met they started dating each other and eventually moved in together.  Lizzie was his biggest muse, he constantly used her as a model in his work and he in turn gave her lessons in drawing and painting.

 

Ophelia, John Everett Millais, 1852, Tate Britain

One of the most famous works that Lizzie modeled for was Millais' painting of Ophelia.  In it Millais shows the moment when Ophelia from Shakespeare's Hamlet has drowned herself in despair.



Millais painstakingly made studies for the painting and spent hours sketching and painting outdoors to capture each detail.  Millais worked on this painting for nearly a year and for Ophelia he used Lizzie.

Millais had her pose in a tub of water to see how her hair and dress would have looked in a lake.  As Lizzie posed he kept the tub of water warm with oil lamps, but failed to notice when they went out as he was so immersed in his painting.  She didn’t tell him when the water cooled and ended up getting pneumonia.  Her father was furious to hear of this incident but Millais paid for Lizzie to see a doctor. 

 

John Ruskin, John Everett Millais, 1853-54, Private collection

Well known British art critic and art historian John Ruskin saw much promise in Lizzie Siddal's work and became her biggest patron and collector.  He paid her in advance so that he could own future work by her which allowed her to stop modeling and focus on her own painting.  Ruskin also paid for Lizzie to travel to France to both restore her health and to give her inspiration for her art.

Holy Family. Elizabeth Siddal, circa 1856. Wilmington, Delaware Art Museum.

In addition to her role as a model and muse for the Pre-Raphaelites, Siddal was also a painter.  Siddal primarily worked in watercolor on paper in a style similar to the Pre-Raphaelites. While Siddal used some topics, form and colors that were popular with the Pre-Raphaelite artists, these paintings show her own unique and delicate style which is more atmospheric and emotional than many other works from that movement.




Sir Patrick Spens. Elizabeth Siddal, 1856. London, Tate Britain.

Her work is often discussed in terms of how Rossetti influenced her, but it can also be said that her style influenced his.

The painting of Sir Patrick Spens is based on a Medieval Scottish ballad where Spens the sailor is asked by the King to take him to Norway.  The ship sinks in a terrible storm and Siddal shows the moment this is happening while those on land look on in sorrow.  The woman standing on the right side looks to be a self-portrait.




Clerk Saunders. Elizabeth Siddal, 1857. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum.

Another painting by her is Clerk Saunders, another painting based on a sorrowful ballad.  Clerk and Margaret are betrothed but he is killed by her brother before the wedding when they find him trying to sneak into her room.  After his death she is visited by his ghost at her window the next morning.  The woman again appears to be a self-portrait of Siddal.  Her husband Rossetti said this was his favorite work of hers, after she had sold it he got it back and kept it until his death.

Beata Beatrix, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1864-1870, Tate Britain

The above work, Beata Beatrix, refers to Dante Alighieri's muse, Beatrice Portinari and shows her at her moment of death.  The model for the painting was Sidall who had recently died.  Gabriel and Lizzie often thought of themselves as a modern day version of Dante and Beatrice, the two men shared a name and they felt both shared a true love.

Gabriel Rossetti and Elizabeth Siddal married in 1860 after nearly a decade of courtship.  After about a year Lizzie became pregnant, but due to the medicine she took everyday, laudanum, she had a stillborn child.

Laudanum was a strong opiate prescribed in Victorian times as a medication for calming oneself.  Lizzie was already prone to anxiety and after her stillborn child she apparently took it more often.  It seems that the drug itself taken during her pregnancy was the cause of that.  Lizzie died on February 11, 1862 of a laudanum overdose which was ruled accidental. She died young, at age 32, but left a legacy of her work and image in art.