Search Results for: siddal

New image added to LizzieSiddal.com

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Drawn by Elizabeth Siddal, At the Milliners is privately owned. For security reasons, the owner would prefer to remain anonymous. I am grateful that they have so graciously shared this image with LizzieSiddal.com. The owner did have this to say: The attributed title, “At the Milliner’s,” is most likely incorrect. That name was given because … Read more

The Timeless Scourge of the Overdose

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Well over a century-and-a-half has passed since her death, yet Elizabeth Siddal still commands attention through her art, poetry, and the Pre-Raphaelite works she appears in. As artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s muse, Lizzie was a powerful influence on his early Pre-Raphaelite works. She then boldly made the move from model to artist and embarked on a career … Read more

Women of the Pre-Raphaelite Circle

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Christina Rossetti Sister of Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti and critic William Michael Rossetti. A talented poet in her own right, Christina can be seen in several early works of her brother’s, namely The Girlhood of the Virgin Mary and Ecce Ancilla Domini. Read more. Elizabeth Siddal Lizzie helped shape the concept of a “Pre-Raphaelite … Read more

Annie Miller

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Modeling rescued young Annie Miller from extreme poverty. After her mother’s death, Annie and her sister were raised by their aunt and uncle. Accounts of her childhood describe it as working class and “filthy.” By her teens, she was a servant and her family struggled to make ends meet. Pre-Raphaelite artist William Holman Hunt discovered … Read more

Georgiana Burne-Jones

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Georgiana Burne-Jones was introduced to the Pre-Raphaelite circle through her relationship with the man she would later marry, her childhood sweetheart, Edward Burne-Jones. The daughter of a Methodist minister, Georgie was the fifth out of eleven children. Their upbringing was strict and, according to Jan Marsh in Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood, reading the works of Shakespeare and … Read more

Jane Burden Morris

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In 1857, Rossetti and a small group of artists that included William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones were working in Oxford, painting the Union Murals for the local debating society.  One night they attended a performance by actors from the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Seated in the gallery below were Jane Burden and her sister.  Rossetti … Read more

The Lady of Shalott Poem

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The Lady of Shalott Alfred, Lord Tennyson On either side the river lieLong fields of barley and of rye,That clothe the wold and meet the sky;And through the field the road runs by     To many-towered Camelot; And up and down the people go,Gazing where the lilies blow Round an island there below,     The island of Shalott.  Willows whiten, aspens … Read more

Fanny Cornforth

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Fanny Cornforth was born Sarah Cox, the daughter of a blacksmith in Steyning. Later, she took on the name Fanny in honor of a younger sister who had died at a young age. Though she appears in some of Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s most majestic works, Fanny Cornforth is one of the most criticized and misunderstood … Read more

Barely Clare

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I confess that Clare Mackail, youngest granddaughter of Pre-Raphaelite artist Sir Edward Burne-Jones, had previously been a mere blip on my radar. That is, of course, until Tim McGee channeled his fascination for her into Barely Clare: The Little-Known Life of Clare Mackail. Of Burne-Jones’ three grandchildren, Clare has been overshadowed by the accomplishments of … Read more

A Wondrous Pursuit

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Today is  LizzieSiddal.com‘s 16th anniversary! February 1st is a happy memory for me; it’s a day that represents an idea, the beginning of a pursuit that has become something more fulfilling than I could have imagined.  Compiling information about Lizzie Siddal online led to the birth of the blog you’re reading right now. I am … Read more

‘Once Upon A Time… in Hollywood’ Horrified Me – At First

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This post contains spoilers from Once Upon A Time in Hollywood. Please do not read further if you have not seen the film yet. You have been kindly warned. Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood captures the vivid technicolor dream of 1969, a free-wheeling world in the midst of change. Sharon Tate and the … Read more

Notre Dame Still Stands

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In 1855, Elizabeth Siddal visited Paris on a journey funded by her patron, art critic John Ruskin. I’ve often wondered what the experience was like for her. She had gone through so many thrilling changes in her life at this point, from shop girl to artist’s model, to gliding effortlessly to the other side of … Read more

The Artist’s Soul

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‘See me, and know me as I am.’   At the age of twenty-one, Dante Gabriel Rossetti wrote the short story Hand and Soul, which was published in The Germ, a short-lived magazine created by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Not only does the story offer a glimpse into the young Rossetti’s beliefs and aspirations, it seems to … Read more

Wombat Friday! Now with extra lemon!

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T-Dub, resident wombat at Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood, is craving lemons. The source of his delight can be traced to the symbolic details found in Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s painting La Bella Mano.  Dante Gabriel Rossetti painted La Bella Mano in 1875. When planning it, he described it as “a good-sized Titianesque subject — a girl washing her … Read more

Pre-Raphaelite Girl Gang

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I’ve amassed quite a collection of Pre-Raphaelite books over the years and the addition of Pre-Raphaelite Girl Gang to my shelves adds something alive. It buzzes with energy and a sense that, just by reading it, we are tapping into a collective consciousness of artistic women whose endeavors richly deserve to be remembered and honored. When … Read more

Balancing on the Bridge

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We carry an entire world in our pocket that allows us to search for information without opening a reference book. I can write you a quick note without ever putting pen to paper, and send it without a stamp or an envelope. Every day, millions of people take selfies that are filtered into perfection. No … Read more

A #WombatFriday for Lizzie

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Wednesday was Lizzie Siddal’s birthday and my sidekick Thaddeus Fern Diogenes Wombat (T-Dub to his friends), has decided to learn more about her. When learning about Lizzie, there’s a lot of misinformation to wade through, so I thought it best for T-Dub to read a personal account from someone who actually knew her. Georgiana Burne-Jones, … Read more

The Grey Lady

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The Grey Lady (1883) is an interesting work by Millais in which we see the ghost of a murdered woman.  The staircase was taken from St. Mary’s Tower, Birnam, a building that has since been demolished but you can see photographs of it here taken in 1963.  The artist’s son described the work in The … Read more

Finding Fireflies Amidst the Fireworks

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When Waterhouse’s exquisite Hylas and the Nymphs was controversially removed from exhibition at the Manchester Art Gallery recently, I wrote that it would be far more beneficial to promote images that empower women instead of removing a masterpiece to provoke a reaction. The painting has since been returned to display at the Gallery, and it was … Read more

#WombatFriday: Rossetti’s Dove

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Inspired by artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s passion for wombats, every Friday is Wombat Friday at Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood. “The Wombat is a Joy, a Triumph, a Delight, a Madness!” – Dante Gabriel Rossetti. You all know T-Dub is a worthy assistant here in my Pre-Raphaelite hood (Get it? Sisterhood? Hood?  Okay, I’ll move on.) I recently … Read more

#WombatFriday: The Woman in White

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Inspired by artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s passion for wombats, every Friday is Wombat Friday at Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood. “The Wombat is a Joy, a Triumph, a Delight, a Madness!” – Dante Gabriel Rossetti   You can follow #WombatFriday on Facebook . This week I have been rereading The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.  It has long … Read more