# Elizabeth Siddal
**Elizabeth Siddal** (born Elizabeth Eleanor Siddall; 25 July 1829 – 11 February 1862) was an English artist, poet, and artists' model associated with the [Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood](https://www.edgepedia.org/pre-raphaelite-brotherhood), best known publicly as the model for [John Everett Millais](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-everett-millais)'s *Ophelia* (1852) and as the wife and principal muse of [Dante Gabriel Rossetti](https://www.edgepedia.org/dante-gabriel-rossetti), and increasingly recognized as a painter and poet in her own right.[1](https://www.northeastmuseums.org.uk/collections/stories/the-many-faces-of-elizabeth-siddall) • [2](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG46199) Her birth surname was spelled Siddall; Rossetti preferred the single-l spelling "Siddal," which is how she is usually listed today.[3](https://exhibitions.lib.udel.edu/victorian-passions/home/the-passions-of-artists-and-models/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Life dates | 25 July 1829 – 11 February 1862, London; died at 32 from an overdose of laudanum[1](https://www.northeastmuseums.org.uk/collections/stories/the-many-faces-of-elizabeth-siddall) |
| Roles | Painter, watercolorist, poet, and model; married Dante Gabriel Rossetti on 23 May 1860[2](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG46199) • [4](https://emuseum.delart.org/people/2249/elizabeth-eleanor-siddal) |
| Famous sittings | Viola in Deverell's *Twelfth Night* (1850), a figure in Holman Hunt's *Converted British Family* (1850), and Ophelia in Millais's *Ophelia* (1852)[2](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG46199) |
| Exhibition | The only woman to exhibit with the Pre-Raphaelites, at their first exhibition at No. 4 Russell Place in 1857[5](https://www.ashmolean.org/article/pre-raphaelite-stunners-and-their-stories) |
| Patronage | John Ruskin paid her £150 per year from 1855 to 1857 for all the works she produced and called her a "genius"[1](https://www.northeastmuseums.org.uk/collections/stories/the-many-faces-of-elizabeth-siddall) • [6](https://shop.tate.org.uk/elizabeth-eleanor-siddal-lady-of-shalott/elisid2303.html?cgid=pre-raphaelite-prints) |
| Output | More than 100 works of art, plus a small body of poetry; works are held in the Ashmolean, Fitzwilliam, Tate, and National Trust collections[5](https://www.ashmolean.org/article/pre-raphaelite-stunners-and-their-stories) • [1](https://www.northeastmuseums.org.uk/collections/stories/the-many-faces-of-elizabeth-siddall) |
## Early life and entry into the Pre-Raphaelite circle
Siddall was one of seven children of a working-class London cutler originally from [Sheffield](https://www.edgepedia.org/sheffield); her father and brothers ran an ironmongery while her mother and sisters worked in dressmaking. Her economic situation left no possibility of formal artistic training.[4](https://emuseum.delart.org/people/2249/elizabeth-eleanor-siddal) In 1849 she was working as a milliner's assistant near [Leicester Square](https://www.edgepedia.org/leicester-square) in London.[1](https://www.northeastmuseums.org.uk/collections/stories/the-many-faces-of-elizabeth-siddall)
The standard account holds that the artist Walter Deverell spotted her at the shop while visiting with his mother, was struck by her appearance, and engaged her as a model, introducing her to the Pre-Raphaelite circle.[1](https://www.northeastmuseums.org.uk/collections/stories/the-many-faces-of-elizabeth-siddall) • [2](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG46199) A more recent interpretation suggests she took a more active role, approaching William Allingham, Secretary of the Government School of Design, to show him examples of her art, and that he introduced her to Deverell.[1](https://www.northeastmuseums.org.uk/collections/stories/the-many-faces-of-elizabeth-siddall) Modeling for established artists gave aspiring female artists access to studios and a chance to study and practice professionally at a time when schools such as the Royal Academy refused female students, though it risked damage to a woman's reputation.[1](https://www.northeastmuseums.org.uk/collections/stories/the-many-faces-of-elizabeth-siddall)
## Modeling career
With her pale skin, coppery-red hair, and strong features, Siddal became one of the most recognizable faces of Victorian art and helped redefine beauty standards for the Pre-Raphaelite movement.[1](https://www.northeastmuseums.org.uk/collections/stories/the-many-faces-of-elizabeth-siddall) She sat for Deverell as Viola in *Twelfth Night* (1850), for a figure in [William Holman Hunt](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-holman-hunt)'s *Converted British Family Sheltering a Christian Priest* (1850), for Sylvia in his *Valentine Rescuing Sylvia from Proteus* (1851), and for Millais's *Ophelia* (1852).[2](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG46199)
The *Ophelia* sitting became famous in its own right. Millais had her lie fully dressed in a bath of water heated by oil lamps beneath; the water cooled while she posed for hours, she became severely ill, and her father insisted that Millais pay the costs of her medical treatment.[7](https://www.countrylife.co.uk/culture/art-exhibitions/literary-masterpieces) The severe cold she caught is recorded as the first sign of the ill health that plagued her for the rest of her life.[8](https://victorianweb.org/painting/siddal/index.html)
From 1851 or 1852 onward Rossetti monopolized her attention, and for the next decade she was his constant companion and principal source of inspiration.[2](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG46199) By the summer of 1852 she was taking lessons from Rossetti and curtailing her modeling for other artists.[4](https://emuseum.delart.org/people/2249/elizabeth-eleanor-siddal) [Ford Madox Brown](https://www.edgepedia.org/ford-madox-brown) commented in 1855 that Rossetti's fixation on drawing her was "like a monomania with him."[9](https://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/4796/8/Ireson14PhD.pdf)
## Art and poetry
Siddal was largely self-taught, and her lack of formal training was treated by contemporaries as a mark of natural talent.[1](https://www.northeastmuseums.org.uk/collections/stories/the-many-faces-of-elizabeth-siddall) Her personal study of medieval manuscripts produced an unconventional perspective and figuration; her work privileged emotional expression over anatomical accuracy.[1](https://www.northeastmuseums.org.uk/collections/stories/the-many-faces-of-elizabeth-siddall) In the mid-1850s she developed a distinctive style characterized by compositional layering, enclosed space, attenuated figures, and jewel-like colors that consciously reworked pre-modern visual languages.[10](https://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/id/eprint/9337/) Her subjects were drawn from literature, especially Tennyson: she painted *Lady Clare*, *The Lady of Shalott* (1853), and *St Agnes' Eve*, and her 1854 drawing *Clerk Saunders* depicted doomed lovers from a Scottish ballad.[1](https://www.northeastmuseums.org.uk/collections/stories/the-many-faces-of-elizabeth-siddall) • [6](https://shop.tate.org.uk/elizabeth-eleanor-siddal-lady-of-shalott/elisid2303.html?cgid=pre-raphaelite-prints) • [11](https://www.artic.edu/files/e7120ed7-7da0-430d-aa51-1479629de179/AIC_MuseumStudies_18-2_UPDF.pdf) Her 1860 ink drawing *The Woeful Victory* shows a fallen knight in a medieval tableau.[3](https://exhibitions.lib.udel.edu/victorian-passions/home/the-passions-of-artists-and-models/)
**Ruskin's patronage.** Around 1855 Rossetti brought her work to the attention of the critic [John Ruskin](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-ruskin), who bought everything she had produced to date on the spot, paid her £150 a year from 1855 to 1857 for all the works she produced, arranged medical care, and sent her on an excursion to the South of France.[4](https://emuseum.delart.org/people/2249/elizabeth-eleanor-siddal) • [1](https://www.northeastmuseums.org.uk/collections/stories/the-many-faces-of-elizabeth-siddall) Ruskin described her as a "genius" and, according to one account, considered her more talented than her husband.[6](https://shop.tate.org.uk/elizabeth-eleanor-siddal-lady-of-shalott/elisid2303.html?cgid=pre-raphaelite-prints) • [1](https://www.northeastmuseums.org.uk/collections/stories/the-many-faces-of-elizabeth-siddall)
In 1857 she became the only woman to exhibit with the Pre-Raphaelites, at their summer exhibition at Russell Place; the poet [Coventry Patmore](https://www.edgepedia.org/coventry-patmore) praised a study of a head shown there for its "considerable technical power" and "high, pure and independent feeling."[5](https://www.ashmolean.org/article/pre-raphaelite-stunners-and-their-stories) • [12](https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp14246/elizabeth-eleanor-rossetti-nee-siddal) She also exhibited at the exhibition of British Art held in America in 1858.[8](https://victorianweb.org/painting/siddal/index.html) More than 100 drawings and watercolors by her are known today, some only from photographs.[5](https://www.ashmolean.org/article/pre-raphaelite-stunners-and-their-stories) • [13](https://www.spectator.com.au/2025/02/an-artist-in-her-own-right-the-genius-of-elizabeth-siddal/)
She also wrote poetry, a small body of ballads similar in feeling to the work of Rossetti's sister Christina, though this side of her work was little known even in her lifetime.[4](https://emuseum.delart.org/people/2249/elizabeth-eleanor-siddal) Rossetti himself acknowledged that in "fecundity of invention and facility" her skills were "quite wonderful, much greater than mine."[1](https://www.northeastmuseums.org.uk/collections/stories/the-many-faces-of-elizabeth-siddall) Recent scholarship argues that her imaginative input was more central to the Pre-Raphaelite project than previously supposed, and that she provided visual exemplars for Rossetti's illustrations to the 1857 "Moxon Tennyson."[13](https://www.spectator.com.au/2025/02/an-artist-in-her-own-right-the-genius-of-elizabeth-siddal/) • [14](https://victorianweb.org/authors/reviews/siddal.html)
## Marriage, illness, and death
The relationship with Rossetti was tumultuous. Several unfulfilled promises of marriage led to a two-year separation beginning in 1858; in the spring of 1860, hearing that she was seriously ill, Rossetti joined her at Hastings and they married on 23 May 1860.[4](https://emuseum.delart.org/people/2249/elizabeth-eleanor-siddal) • [8](https://victorianweb.org/painting/siddal/index.html) The marriage was brief and unhappy. A stillborn daughter in 1861 deepened her depression, which was compounded by her use of laudanum, an opiate pain reliever.[4](https://emuseum.delart.org/people/2249/elizabeth-eleanor-siddal)
On 10 February 1862 she was discovered unconscious from an overdose of laudanum and died the next morning, at the age of 32; her death is generally judged probable suicide.[4](https://emuseum.delart.org/people/2249/elizabeth-eleanor-siddal) • [8](https://victorianweb.org/painting/siddal/index.html) Rossetti, filled with remorse, buried his manuscript poems in her coffin, painted *Beata Beatrix* as a memorial to her, and in 1869 had her body exhumed to retrieve the poems.[8](https://victorianweb.org/painting/siddal/index.html) • [15](https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/exhibitions/pdfs/preraphaelite.pdf)
## Reputation and legacy
For most of the century and a half after her death, Siddal was remembered chiefly as Millais's Ophelia and Rossetti's tragic wife, and her own work was often dismissed as naive or even attributed to Rossetti himself.[1](https://www.northeastmuseums.org.uk/collections/stories/the-many-faces-of-elizabeth-siddall) • [2](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG46199) Jan Marsh's monograph *The Legend of Elizabeth Siddal* (1989) and the exhibition *Pre-Raphaelite Sisters* at the National Portrait Gallery in 2019–20 were milestones in the reassessment of her as a painter-poet in her own right.[16](https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/31501/3/Youde_201052308_Thesis_1_Text_Final.pdf) • [17](https://www.accartbooks.com/us/book/elizabeth-siddal/datasheet/) Recent editions of her poetry include Roger Lewis and Mark Samuels Lasner's *Poems and Drawings of Elizabeth Siddal* (1997), Serena Trowbridge's *My Ladys Soul* (2018), and Anne Woolley's *The Poems of Elizabeth Siddal in Context* (2021).[18](https://elizabethsiddal.com/) Her works are held in public collections including the Ashmolean Museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum, the [National Trust](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-trust), and Tate.[1](https://www.northeastmuseums.org.uk/collections/stories/the-many-faces-of-elizabeth-siddall)
## References
1. [The many faces of Elizabeth Siddall, North East Museums](https://www.northeastmuseums.org.uk/collections/stories/the-many-faces-of-elizabeth-siddall)
2. [Elizabeth Siddal, British Museum collection term](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG46199)
3. [The Passions of Artists and Models, University of Delaware](https://exhibitions.lib.udel.edu/victorian-passions/home/the-passions-of-artists-and-models/)
4. [Elizabeth Eleanor Siddal, Delaware Art Museum](https://emuseum.delart.org/people/2249/elizabeth-eleanor-siddal)
5. [Pre-Raphaelite Stunners and Their Stories, Ashmolean Museum](https://www.ashmolean.org/article/pre-raphaelite-stunners-and-their-stories)
6. [Elizabeth Eleanor Siddal: Lady of Shalott 1853, Tate Shop](https://shop.tate.org.uk/elizabeth-eleanor-siddal-lady-of-shalott/elisid2303.html?cgid=pre-raphaelite-prints)
7. [Write side up: The enduring influence of literature in art, Country Life](https://www.countrylife.co.uk/culture/art-exhibitions/literary-masterpieces)
8. [Elizabeth Eleanor Siddal (1829-1862), Victorian Web](https://victorianweb.org/painting/siddal/index.html)
9. [Cracked mirrors and petrifying vision, University of Birmingham thesis](https://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/4796/8/Ireson14PhD.pdf)
10. [Elizabeth Eleanor Siddall, 1829-61, UAL Research Online](https://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/id/eprint/9337/)
11. [British Art: Recent Acquisitions and Discoveries, Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/files/e7120ed7-7da0-430d-aa51-1479629de179/AIC_MuseumStudies_18-2_UPDF.pdf)
12. [Elizabeth Eleanor Rossetti (née Siddal), National Portrait Gallery](https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp14246/elizabeth-eleanor-rossetti-nee-siddal)
13. [An artist in her own right: the genius of Elizabeth Siddal, The Spectator Australia](https://www.spectator.com.au/2025/02/an-artist-in-her-own-right-the-genius-of-elizabeth-siddal/)
14. [Review of Anne Woolley's The Poems of Elizabeth Siddal in Context, Victorian Web](https://victorianweb.org/authors/reviews/siddal.html)
15. [Pre-Raphaelite exhibition guide, National Gallery of Art](https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/exhibitions/pdfs/preraphaelite.pdf)
16. [Glenda Youde doctoral thesis, White Rose eTheses](https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/31501/3/Youde_201052308_Thesis_1_Text_Final.pdf)
17. [Elizabeth Siddal: Her Story, ACC Art Books](https://www.accartbooks.com/us/book/elizabeth-siddal/datasheet/)
18. [About Elizabeth Siddal, elizabethsiddal.com](https://elizabethsiddal.com/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Visual arts and design › Painters › 19th-century painters*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license