Like his Pre-Raphaelite brethren, Dante Gabriel Rossetti used live models in his works. Throughout the course of his career, the same faces grace his canvasses,…
Elizabeth Siddal made great contributions to the Pre-Raphaelite movement; she appears in a number of important works. After posing for Deverell, Holman Hunt, Millais, and…
In the early years of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, artist Walter Deverell discovered Elizabeth Siddal working in a millinery shop. After modeling for his painting Twelfth…
Pre-Raphaelites sought fidelity to nature in their works, recreating the natural world with painstaking attention to detail. They did not, however, limit themselves to realistic…
Tim Powers doesn’t write about your run-of-the-mill vampires. His undead may feed upon you, but in return they will inspire words and poetry that you…
The romance of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Elizabeth Siddal lends itself well to fiction. It’s a story that has it all: beauty, pathos, and the…
Sir Edward Burne-Jones used Fanny Cornforth as a model for his unfinished painting, Hope, above. Although incomplete, it remains one of my favorite paintings of Fanny. As…
After posting about Evelyn De Morgan’s painting The Gilded Cage, I began to think about other paintings that depict women who are trapped and imprisoned…
Author Henry James had seen Rossetti’s paintings of Jane Morris during a visit to Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s studios. Upon seeing Jane in person, he had…
“There is nothing stable in the world; uproar’s your only music.”-John Keats Several months ago I was diagnosed with a dermoid tumor on my ovary.…
On this day in 1862, Elizabeth Siddal died. In many accounts of her, you will see her death described as suicide. Whether intentional or not,…
“It is a subject from an old story of mine — a woman dying while her lover is painting her portrait” (Dante Gabriel Rossetti) This…
Women are central figures in Pre-Raphaelite art, and this has given rise to the concept of a “Pre-Raphaelite Woman.” I frequently see the term in te…
It would have been a perfect plot for a 1960’s Hammer Horror film: on the death of his wife, a poet places his manuscript of…
Tomorrow marks the anniversary of Elizabeth Siddal’s death. For this week’s image, I have chosen The Ladies’ Lament, inspired by the Ballad of Sir Patrick…
“He does not love me for my birth, Nor for my lands so broad and fair; He loves me for my own true worth, And…
Elizabeth Siddal still continues to inspire. Dawn Marie Kresan explores multiple aspects of Siddal’s life and legacy in a newly-published poetry collection, Muse. I was…
Copperhead Productions and Peter Huntley Productions present THE WORLD PREMIERE OF LIZZIE SIDDAL A NEW PLAY BY JEREMY GREEN AT THE ARCOLA THEATRE from Wednesday…
Photograph of Elizabeth Siddal Rossetti. For more, visit lizziesiddal.com
One of my favorite details in Rossetti’s Proserpine is that her lips are painted almost the exact shade of the pomegranate. Those luscious, cupid’s bow…
Often I find that I prefer an artist’s studies to the completed work. Perhaps it is that they are raw beginnings, a hint of what…
I’ve just updated the Ophelia page at LizzieSiddal.com. I’ve transcribed text relating to Ophelia from The Life and Letters of Sir John Everett Millais. I…
Women’s Hour visits the Pre-Raphaelite exhibit at the Tate to discuss the female Pre-Raphaelite artists. I am pleased with the the attention paid to Elizabeth…
I am surfacing. I apologize for my silence and lack of posting. For the past couple of weeks, we’ve been coming to terms with the…
