On 23rd May 1860, in Hastings, Dante Gabriel Rossetti finally married Elizabeth Eleanor Siddal. The marriage came ten years after they'd first met - after years during which Lizzie waited patiently (and not so patiently) for Rossetti to make a respectable woman of her. A Victorian woman of Lizzie's class had few choices open to her. Making a good marriage was thus something women did whenever the opportunity arose (and indeed as Jane Burden cannily did in marrying William Morris, whom she did not love). The unmarried Lizzie had spent many hours alone with Rossetti, and she had worked as an artists' model - both facts enough to mark her out as a woman of dubious morals. If Rossetti left her, it was unlikely she would find a husband, and without Rossetti she would be left penniless, having given up her job as a hat maker to be with him.Although Rossetti saw her as his muse, as the Beatrice to his Dante, he was reluctant to make an honest woman of her. During their courtship he had flirtations and liaisons with other women - the Pre-Raphaelite 'stunners' Anne Miller and Fanny Cornforth (both of them considerably more earthy than the graceful and refined Lizzie), and he fell in love with Jane Morris (although his affair with her occurred only after Lizzie was dead).Every time Rossetti went away Lizzie became terrified that he would abandon her forever. Her health would collapse, Rossetti would return contrite, but then Lizzie would recover and all promises of marriage were forgotten. Lizzie's fragile health seems to have begun around the time she famously posed for Millais' portrait of 'Ophelia' in a cold bath of water, too professional a model to point out to the painter that the lamps intended to heat the water had gone out.Various theories have been posited as to exactly what was wrong with Lizzie, but what really destroyed her health was the laudanum to which she became addicted. Whether she became ill because of the laudanum or whether she used the laudanum to blunt her pain - physical and mental - can never be finally known. Laudanum was perfectly legal and used for a variety of ills, much as aspirin is used today. It would not have been considered at all unusual or dangerous for Lizzie to take laudanum.Rossetti genuinely believed Lizzie had artistic talent, and encouraged her to work at her art. He showed her work to John Ruskin, who bought much of it and provided her with a regular allowance. Lucinda Hawksley notes that Lizzie was the only woman whose work featured in the 1857 Pre-Raphaelite Exhibition. Not only that, but in 1984 when the Tate held an exhibition of Pre-Raphaelite work, Lizzie was again the only woman whose pictures were on show.Nevertheless, Lizzie's relationship with Rossetti seems to have caused her more grief than happiness. The couple's first child was stillborn in 1861. Though infant (and mother) mortality was all too common in Victorian England, the loss affected Lizzie deeply. Perhaps she felt partly to blame, fearing that the child's death was the result of Lizzie's laudanum addiction. And it was laudanum that killed her, in February 1862. She was 32 years old, and pregnant with her second child.Hawksley's book is very readable, and if at times her account seems overly sympathetic towards Lizzie, I think it's no more than Lizzie deserves.[November 2006]
As an art history major, I didn't spend much time with the Pre-Raphaelites. As a huge fan of Whistler, I spent more time with Pre-Raphaelite supporter and art critic, John Ruskin. But I've been interested to learn more about them, and where better to start than with one of their most iconic muses?Lizzie Siddal was discovered in a fashionable milliner's shop in London, and soon became a model for a number of the Pre-Raphaelites. She and Dante Gabriel Rossetti quickly became an item. Their relationship was riddled with jealousies and betrayals (Rossetti asked Lizzie to stop modeling for anyone but him while he continued to sleep with other women, and promised to marry her for eight years before actually going through with it). While I knew about the romance, I was unaware of many of the details of Siddal's life. That Siddal was an artist in her own right has been glossed over in every textbook I read, along with her addiction to laudanum and depression, which greatly reduced her output. Even though Lizzie's poor health and stress from her tumultuous relationship with Dante kept her from producing more art, the plates included in Hawksley's biography demonstrate definite artistic ability.It's not surprising that Siddal has been overlooked by the textbooks, both because she was a woman, and because she was not as prolific as her male compatriots. Still, her life is important in more than that she was a "muse". She was a woman with her own agency and an independent life in the 19th Century. She diverged from the acceptable model of a woman at the time, and pursued her own goals, even if she still wanted to be married and have a happy family of her own.Hawksley's biography makes good use of primary documents to draw a picture of not only Lizzie, but the other Pre-Raphaelites in her social circle. There are still a few places where the author has to draw conclusions based on typical behavior of the time period, or secondhand accounts from members of the Pre-Raphaelite community. Throughout this book, Hawksley tries to impress upon the reader both the talent and the tragedy of Lizzie Siddal.
Do You like book Lizzie Siddal (2005)?
I knew it would be a sad read, but it turned out to be even more of a slog than I expected. Too many echoes of recent personal events to be able to balance out the historical or artistic interest.It's had the opposite effect of what I suspect was intended. I now hate the Rosettis. All of them. Their poetry, painting, and drawing (although I maintain that Dante was a better draftsman than painter by a long shot). Their histrionics left me tired and grim, and not missing some of the more intense and high-drama periods of my own life at all.Drug-addicted and wannabe tragic artists? Fuck 'em.
—Niall519
Lizzie SiddalMiniature of Elizabeth Siddall,attributed to Dante Gabriel Rossetti.Rossetti sitting to Lizzie Siddal, Sept. 1853Self-Portrait by Lizzie SiddalFrom hat shop girl to Pre-Rapaelite super model to artist & poet to wife of one of the most renowned artist of his era (the Beatrice to his Dante) to tragic story of addiction and death, Lizzie Siddel is known for all these things-more so for her image in The Pre-Raphelite Brotherhood's paintings.What is little known is the fact that Siddal was an artist in her own right. Was even taken under the wing of renowned art critic, John Ruskin(Much to Rossetti's dismay and jealously). And Lucinda Hawksley recounts all of this as well as he potential lost with her death in this tremendously researched biography of the Pre Raphelite Supermodel.Though Lucinda Hawksley covers Victorian norms and it's social cues, She mainly focuses on the romance of Lizzie and Rosseti-Which, in it's entirety went against everything Victorian England stood against.Lizzie Siddel's waif like appearance captured the hearts of many but she loved only one. Dante Gabriel Rosseti.By becoming a model and becoming an item with Dante, Lizzie was almost immediately frowned upon and seen as a woman of dubious morals.She may have not even slept with Rossetti( even though she did) and she still would have been labeled as a fallen women due to Lizzie having spent many hours alone with Rossetti and his friends-modelling, however innocently.Although Rossetti saw Lizzie as his muse, he refused to marry her, instead chose to live with Lizzie, keeping her as a mistressand promising marriage for eight years before actually going through with it.Their relationship was riddled with jealousies and betrayals-Rossetti asked Lizzie to stop modeling for anyone but him.It is clear that Lizzie never cheated on Rosseti. But Rosseti on the other hand...During their 'courtship', he often had flirtations and liaisons with other women, Such as Anne Miller (His PRB, William Holemen Hunt's mistress),Fanny Cornforth(a prostitute and close friend of Rosseti's. In fact, she stayed with him as his house keeper til his death) and finally Jane Morris ( His friend and PRB,William Morris's wife).It is clear that Dante's philandering nature and Lizzie's poor health/depression are what lead Lizzie to laudanum and ultimately her death. Lizzie's relationship with Dante(though romantic at parts and has the sort of whirlwind feel to it) caused her more grief than happiness. The couple's first child was stillborn in 1861-Which was likely due to Lizzie's Laudanum addiction, the loss affected her deeply, plummeting her into an even worse depression and dangerous cycle of dependence on laudanum.Ultimately it was laudanum that killed her.In February 1862 Lizzie Siddel died at 32 years old, pregnant with her second child and her talent and potential for more, lost.That said, it is a very well put together biography, with ton's of information on Lizzie, her childhood, her constant illness's,her addiction, her poetry and art, Her Life with Rossetti and her death.4 STARS!!
—Erin
I enjoyed this biography immensely and read it straight through in less than two days. A very tragic tale of depression, addiction and I suppose you could call it romance (or unhealthy obsession)- it was never going to be a happy read, but the writer's style is engaging and sympathetic yet factual enough to make you feel involved yet critical. The book also imparts an awful lot more than expected about an era in artistic history I, personally, knew very little about. For instance the coining of the word "stunner"; the amount of almost incestuous affairs and relationships shared between a small group of artists, poets and writers I'd heard of, but would never have paired together; and even such small details as the irony of Samuel Plimsoll (the inventor of the Plimsoll line) and Hiram Maxim (the inventor of the machine gun) living at one time or other in the same area of London.Overall a good read - I would recommend it to anyone, whether they're interested in history or not!
—Sarah Cowen
