Elizabeth Siddal

Elizabeth Siddal (1829–1862) was an English artist, poet, and model who became a central figure in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and a key influence on Victorian art and literature. Discovered in a millinery shop by artist Walter Deverell, Siddal began modeling for prominent Pre-Raphaelite painters, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, whom she later married. Her distinctive beauty and striking presence made her the subject of iconic paintings, most famously John Everett Millais’s Ophelia (1852), for which she posed in a bathtub filled with water—a session that allegedly contributed to her lifelong ill health.

Beyond modeling, Siddal was a talented artist and poet in her own right. Encouraged by Rossetti, she produced delicate drawings and watercolors, often depicting medieval and literary themes that paralleled the Brotherhood’s aesthetic. Her poetry, marked by themes of love, loss, and melancholy, reflected her introspective nature and complex relationship with Rossetti, which was passionate but fraught. Siddal struggled with health issues and laudanum addiction, leading to her tragic early death at the age of 32.

Siddal’s influence on the Pre-Raphaelite movement and her role as one of the first female artists associated with the group have cemented her legacy. Today, she is remembered as both a muse and an artist, whose life and work contributed profoundly to the Romantic and melancholic spirit of Pre-Raphaelite art.