Elizabeth Siddal (1829–1862)

Elizabeth Eleanor Siddall, called "Lizzie," was the eldest child in a large working-class London family. She developed a love of poetry at an early age. She was working in a milliner's shop at age 20 when she was discovered by artist Walter Deverell and invited to sit for him as a model. Through him she was introduced to the other Pre-Raphaelite artists, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris, William Holman Hunt, Edward Burne-Jones, and John Everett Millais. Lizzie was described as "tall. . .with somewhat uncommon features. . . greenish-blue eyes, large perfect eyelids, a brilliant complexion, and a lavish heavy wealth of coppery golden hair." In 1852, Lizzie was the model for Millais's "Ophelia," floating in a bathtub full of water to represent the drowning girl. She served as Dante Gabriel Rossetti's muse throughout most of his youth. He painted her to the exclusion of other models, and stopped her from working for any other artists. He changed the spelling of her name to Siddal, and they were engaged to be married. During this period. Lizzie began to write poetry and draw, often with dark themes about lost love. She travelled to Europe seeking rellef for her chronic illness, but returned to England in 1860 to marry Rossetti after their 10-year engagement. Because of her ill-health, Lizzie used laudanum, a mixture of alcohol and opium, to which she became addicted. A pregnancy in 1861 ended with the birth of a stillborn daughter. Lizzie was depressed and pregnant a second time when she overdosed on laudanum in 1862. Although her death was ruled an accident by the authorities, there were suggestions that Rossetti had found a suicide note. Overcome with grief, he put a journal containing his only copy of his own poems into his wife's coffin. By 1869, Rossetti was chronically addicted to drugs and alcohol. He was convinced he was going blind, and couldn't paint. He became obsessed with retrieving the poems he had buried with Lizzie. Rossetti and his agent applied to the Home Secretary for an order to have her coffin exhumed, and the journal was retrieved. Rossetti published the old poems with his newer ones. Unfortunately, they were not well received, and he was haunted by the exhumation through the rest of his life.