{"id":98,"date":"2021-10-31T01:06:30","date_gmt":"2021-10-31T01:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/laurenhoward\/?p=98"},"modified":"2021-10-31T01:06:34","modified_gmt":"2021-10-31T01:06:34","slug":"elizabeth-siddal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/laurenhoward\/2021\/10\/31\/elizabeth-siddal\/","title":{"rendered":"Elizabeth Siddal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Elizabeth Eleanor Siddal 1829 – 1862<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Elizabeth \u201cLizzie\u201d Siddal was an influential female pre-raphaelite painter, poet, and figure model. From an early age, Elizabeth was exposed to the Pre- Raphaelite Brotherhood by Walter Howell Deverell which inspired her to get involved in the art community in London. She was also fairly well educated, being able to read and write, and coming from a wealthy family she was most likely homeschooled along with her siblings.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before she was known for her paintings and extensive poetry she was also a regular figure model for the other members of the Pre- Raphaelite Brotherhood. Some paintings you may not know she was the model for are \u201cTwelfth Night\u201d by Walter Howell Deverell where she posed as Viola, \u201cRossovestita\u201d by Dante Rossetti (who she ended up marrying in 1860 after becoming his muse for several of his other paintings.), and famously in 1850 as Ophelia in \u201cOphelia\u201d by John Millais which happens to be one of my favorite paintings. She posed as the iconic Hamlet character for Millais in a bathtub in his studio for hours to perfect the figure, unfortunately in one of the sessions, the heat lamps warming the bath burnt out and Millais didn\u2019t notice. Since Lizzie was so dedicated to the artist’s vision she didn\u2019t mention the freezing temperature of the water until she was practically numb and inevitably became severely ill, so in conclusion, her enraged father sent Millais a hefty medical bill for his carelessness. Thankfully she recovered but it would\u2019ve been ironic if she died the same way Ophelia did in the play. During her life, Lizzie was the most well-known model for the Pre- Raphaelite movement making thousands of cameos in different paintings and sketches.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sketch of Elizabeth Siddal by Millais for “Opheilia”. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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“Ophelia” ca. 1850 by John Millais. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Depiction of the situation Siddal would have been posing in for “Ophelia”. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In Siddal\u2019s own work she usually references a lot of medieval figures, Arthurian legends and doesn\u2019t typically depict ideal beauty like many other Pre- Raphaelite paintings. Her art also has a fairly eerie\/ dark feel similar to her poetry. Lizzie frequently used mediums such as watercolor, graphite, pastels\/ chalk, and occasionally oil paints.\u00a0\u00a0One of her popular paintings that display this is \u201cClerk Saunders: ca. 1857 done with watercolor and chalk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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” Clerk Saunders” ca. 1857 by Elizabeth Siddal. Dimensions: 284 mm (h) x 181 mm (w).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Besides painting Lizzie also wrote several beautiful poems from a young age. She also wrote alongside her husband Dante, and also illustrated some of his poetry. He also forbid her from modeling for other Pre- Raphaelite painters during their courtship\/ marriage wanting her all to himself and ended up using her for thousands of his works.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Lovers Listening to Music” ca. 1854 by Elizabeth Siddal. Dimensions: 378 mm (h) x 398 mm (w) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Being a female Siddal faces prejudice in the artistic community even though she was tight with several of the founding members of the Pre- Raphaelite Brotherhood and was a part of the Pre- Raphaelite Brotherhood as well as being a part of several gallery shows.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sketch of Siddal by Rossetti. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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“Beata Beatrix” ca. 1863 by Dante Rossetti.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tragically Lizzie died at age 33 in London after 2 miscarriages and an illness she\u2019d been wrestling with since 1852. Though her life was short it was still filled with drama and intrigue that I enjoyed delving into in my research for this blog entry even though I\u2019ve barely scratched the surface of this complex woman. \u201cBeata Beatrix\u201d is the last painting done of Lizzie. It was completed by Rossetti in 1863 a year after her death as he was grieving and depicts a praying Dante Alighieri\u2019s Beatrice.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sources: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Faces of Elizabeth Siddal.”\u00a0Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood<\/em>, 5\u00a0Sept.\u00a02018, preraphaelitesisterhood.com\/faces-elizabeth-siddal\/. Accessed 30\u00a0Oct.\u00a02021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

National Trust. “Lovers Listening to Music 1287930.” National Trust Collections<\/em>, www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk\/object\/1287930. Accessed 30 Oct. 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Paintings and Drawings by Elizabeth Siddal.” LizzieSiddal.com<\/em>, 3 Nov. 2018, lizziesiddal.com\/portal\/lizzies-art\/. Accessed 30 Oct. 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Poems Written by Elizabeth Siddal.” LizzieSiddal.com<\/em>, 26 Oct. 2008, lizziesiddal.com\/portal\/poems-written-by-elizabeth-siddal\/. Accessed 30 Oct. 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Who Was Elizabeth Siddal?” Women’n Art<\/em>, 18 Nov. 2020, womennart.com\/2020\/11\/18\/who-was-elizabeth-siddal\/. Accessed 30 Oct. 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elizabeth \u201cLizzie\u201d Siddal was an influential female pre-raphaelite painter, poet, and figure model. From an early age, Elizabeth was exposed to the Pre- Raphaelite Brotherhood by Walter Howell Deverell which inspired her to get involved in the art community in… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-4"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/laurenhoward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/laurenhoward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/laurenhoward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/laurenhoward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/laurenhoward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/laurenhoward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":168,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/laurenhoward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98\/revisions\/168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/laurenhoward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/laurenhoward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/laurenhoward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}