#elizabeth siddal

dante’s vision of matilda gathering flowers by dante gabriel rossetti, circa 1855.

lilly-laudanum-leviosaa:

preraphaelist:

preraphaelist:

hidden details in millais’ ophelia: 

• a robin perched on a branch in the upper right hand corner.
• a mist of cobweb above the sitter’s feet ominously remminiscent of a skull.
• dead reeds rotting in the water. the backdrop was in 1851 from june until november, in ewell, surrey.
• a garland of violets around the neck of ophelia, modelled by elizabeth siddal.

painting the backdrop for ophelia was a rather disastrous affair, as it was frequently too wet to work. millais painted for eleven hours a day when he was able; he wrote of the affair to a friend that he sat “…under an umbrella throwing a shadow scarcely larger than a halfpenny…“, was threatened by the local village magistrate for ‘destroying’ a hayfield, threatened again by a bull romping through said hayfield, and was”…also in danger of being blown by the wind into the water, and becoming intimate with the feelings of Ophelia when that lady sank to muddy death… There are two swans who not a little add to my misery by persisting in watching me from the exact spot I wish to paint, occasionally destroying every water-weed within their reach. Certainly the painting of a picture under such circumstances would be a greater punishment to a murderer than hanging.”

^^ not only that, the painting had tragic consequences on elizabeth siddal’s (the model) real life. typically posing for her lover, the famous rosetti, on this occasion he “lent her out” as he frequently did to his fellow pre-raphaelite brothers, she layed fully clothed in a bath to emulate the floating in water, staying there so long that the water had gone cold, she came out with an acute case of hypothermia or pneumonia, one of the two, this lead to her doctor prescribing opium to which she would become heavily addicted to, the eventually was an overdose at home alone when rosetti was out. her demise shattered him as a man, he would call 3 different doctors before accepting her fate.

broken rosetti burried her with his poems, when suffering writers block years later he reluctantly had her exhumed to retrieve this book. according to those present, her pale white skin had been preserved “by the opium” and her red curly hair continued to grow filling the coffin… i think you’ll recognise her from paintings such as beata beatrix and other rosetti/raphaelite pieces, this likely won’t be the last time i post about this tragic and haunting fate

thank you for your comments! i hope you don’t mind if i correct some points, as some of this information is more myth than fact. 

elizabeth siddal was never “lent out” by rossetti. she was entirely in charge of who she sat for. when she modelled for millais, she was not in a relationship with rossetti. their relationship began after the ophelia incident. she did not sit again in a professional capacity after ophelia because of her ill health and because she desired to be an artist rather than a model. she was exceptionally talented and became rossetti’s student. pre-eminent art critic john ruskin was her patron for a period of time. 

the bathtub in millais’ studio was lit by oil lamps which went out: millais was obsessive, and siddal feared to disturb him, so she allowed the water to go cold. 

it is unknown how serious the sickness she developed after this incident actually was: we do know it was not acute and likely not hypothermia, as the doctor’s bill- which the siddals had millais pay- was not high enough to suggest a prolonged serious illness. scholars are ultimately unsure whether siddal’s later ill health was the aftereffects of the bathtub incident, tuberculosis, an intestine disorder, a psychosomatic illness in response to the infidelities of her lover/mentor rossetti (he had multiple affairs during their relationship), anorexia nervosa, or something else entirely. 

she was not prescribed opium in response to the bathtub incident, but several years later because of her poor health. prior to and during her addiction, she was prolific artist and poet in her own right, but her illness became so severe after 1860- in coincidence with her marriage to rossetti- that she ceased working.

her death was a suicide induced by purposeful overdose of laudanum. again, the cause of her suicide is unknown, as the note she left was burned by rossetti to protect her reputation. it is believed she suffered from severe depression, likely exacerbated by ill health and rossetti’s behaviour. 

there is no real evidence whatsoever she was preserved in her coffin. rossetti himself was not present at the exhumation, instead choosing to send a close friend,  charles howell, who reported and purported the legend of her preservation. it is believed he reported this in an effort to soothe rossetti’s guilt over siddal’s suicide, for which he felt responsible.

hidden details in millais’ ophelia: 

• a robin perched on a branch in the upper right hand corner.
• a mist of cobweb above the sitter’s feet ominously remminiscent of a skull.
• dead reeds rotting in the water. the backdrop was in 1851 from june until november, in ewell, surrey.
• a garland of violets around the neck of ophelia, modelled by elizabeth siddal.

two versions of elizabeth siddal. her self portrait, completed in between 1853 and 1854, is one of her only serious undertakings in oil to have survived to the present. her gaze is direct, her mouth tight- a portrait which bears the painter’s own understanding of their appearance. this is in contrast to the watercolour by her husband, dante gabriel rossetti, also painted around 1854, which shows a more genteel version of siddal with downcast eyes and delicately folded hands. 

one of the only surviving photographs of elizabeth siddal, circa 1860.

study for the head of ophelia by john everett millais (1852), alongside the completed version. the model is elizabeth siddal, aged twenty. during her sitting for ophelia, the oil lamps which heated the bathtub in which siddal was floating for the piece went out; the water went cold- millais’ studio was in a basement, and it was the winter of 1851/1852- but siddal did not disturb the artist. she eventually contracted pneumonia, but recovered and became an artist in her own right. it is unsubstantiated whether the health issues that shaped much of her life were directly related to the ophelia incident.

a lock of elizabeth siddal’s hair, housed at the university of delware. 11 february marks the anniversary of her death.

previews of the pre-raphaelite sisterhood exhibit catalogue, by jan marsh and peter funnell. featuring the work of elizabeth siddal, christina rossetti, evelyn de morgan, fanny eaton, and other women from the pre-raphaelite movement, the exhibition runs at the national portrait gallery until 26 january 2020. you can purchase the catalogue here.

we have merchandise! purchase your very own pre-raphaelist tshirt on redbubble, featuring a transparent elizabeth siddal as drawn by dante gabriel rossetti in 1852.

“flying angels”, sketch by elizabeth siddal, date unknown

Since exhumations are all the rage right now, I thought I’d share my favorite: Elizabeth Siddal, artist and model to the Pre-Raphaelites.

Siddal died of a laudanum overdose at the age of 32 in 1862 in London. Her husband, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, left a journal containing the only copies of many of his poems in her coffin, tucking it away in her famous red hair.

Beata Beatrix by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Even though I have Ophelia as my screensaver, this is my favourite of the pre-Raphaelite-paintings.