35 Facts About Elizabeth Siddal

Elizabeth Eleanor Siddall, better known as Elizabeth Siddal, was an English artist, art model, and poet.

Early in her relationship with Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Elizabeth Siddal became his muse and exclusive model, and he portrayed her in almost all his early artwork depicting women.

Elizabeth Siddal became an artist in her own right and was the only woman to exhibit at an 1857 Pre-Raphaelite exhibition.

Sickly and melancholic during the last decade of her life, Elizabeth Siddal died of a laudanum overdose in 1862 during her second year of marriage to Rossetti.

Elizabeth Siddal's parents were Charles Crooke Siddall, and Elizabeth Eleanor Evans, from a family of English and Welsh descent.

Elizabeth Siddal had two older siblings, Ann and Charles Robert.

In 1849, while working at a millinery in Cranbourne Alley, London, Elizabeth Siddal made the acquaintance of Walter Deverell.

Elizabeth Siddal showed some of her artwork to him, and he introduced her to his son.

Elizabeth Siddal made such an impression on Allingham that he recommended her as a possible model to his friend Deverell, who was struggling with a large oil painting based on the Shakespeare play Twelfth Night.

For John Everett Millais's Ophelia, Elizabeth Siddal floated in a bathtub full of water to portray the drowning Ophelia.

Millais, absorbed by his painting, did not notice and Elizabeth Siddal did not complain.

Elizabeth Siddal's father held Millais responsible and, under the threat of legal action, Millais paid her doctor's bills.

Elizabeth Siddal came to either embody or influence the Pre-Raphaelite ideals of feminine beauty.

Elizabeth Siddal told his friend Ford Madox Brown that her "fecundity of invention and facility are quite wonderful, much greater than mine".

Elizabeth Siddal seems to have inspired Rossetti, as he followed her in depicting the same subjects, and he reused her designs after her death.

Elizabeth Siddal produced many sketches, drawings, and watercolours as well as one oil painting.

Elizabeth Siddal's sketches are similar to other Pre-Raphaelite compositions illustrating Arthurian legend and other idealized medieval themes, and she was the only woman who exhibited with the Pre-Raphaelites at an 1857 exhibition at No 4 Russell Place, Fitzroy Square, London.

That same year, Elizabeth Siddal studied at the Sheffield School of Art.

Elizabeth Siddal had become Rossetti's main model and muse, and he stopped her from modelling for others.

Elizabeth Siddal started staying at his Chatham Place residence, sometimes with him and sometimes by herself.

Elizabeth Siddal portrayed Siddal in moments of leisure, such as reading, sitting, or in repose, or when painting or drawing.

Elizabeth Siddal became the subject of much of Rossetti's poetry throughout their relationship and particularly after her death.

Elizabeth Siddal was the victim of harsh criticism from his sisters.

Elizabeth Siddal 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.

In 1857, Elizabeth Siddal gave up her stipend from Ruskin and went to Sheffield, the birth place of her father, to attend the school of art there.

In Spring 1860, Elizabeth Siddal's family contacted Ruskin with the news that Elizabeth Siddal was gravely ill.

When Elizabeth Siddal's health improved, they honeymooned in Paris and Boulogne in the latter half of 1860, then returned to the Chatham Place residence that they expanded into an adjoining house.

Elizabeth Siddal became pregnant and appeared to be happier and healthier.

Elizabeth Siddal travelled to Paris and Nice for several years for her health.

Elizabeth Siddal became severely depressed and her long illness gave her access to laudanum to which she became addicted.

Elizabeth Siddal died at 7:20am on 11 February 1862 at their home at 14 Chatham Place.

Elizabeth Siddal was buried with her father-in-law Gabriele on 17 February 1862 in the Rossetti family grave in the west side of Highgate Cemetery.

Elizabeth Siddal was among the women featured in the 2019 Pre-Raphaelite Sisters exhibition at London's National Portrait Gallery.

Elizabeth Siddal became regarded as "a morbid, hysterical, suicidal woman clinging to her virginity and angrily jealous of her rivals".

Elizabeth Siddal was portrayed in a recurring role by Hannah Onslow in the Paramount+ adaptation of Elizabeth Macneal's The Doll Factory.