Elizabeth Siddal - Life With Rossetti

Life With Rossetti

Beginning in 1853, with a watercolour, The First Anniversary of the Death of Beatrice, Rossetti painted Siddal in many works. In this piece, she portrays a regal woman visiting the distinguished Dante as he writes his autobiography. Too absorbed with his overwhelming passion for Beatrice, Dante initially fails to notice the other people present in the room. Wearing a long, tailored blue gown and a teal headdress, she clearly occupies a position of considerable rank and beauty. After this work, Rossetti used Siddal in other Dante-related pieces, including Dante's Vision of Rachel and Leah (1855) and Beatrice Meeting Dante at a Marriage Feast, Denies him her Salutation (1851). In the latter painting, Lizzie Siddal represented Dante's obsession, Beatrice wearing a distinguished, long green dress and possessed exquisite beauty. Surrounded by throngs of supporters, she confronts Dante with a defiance that attests to her authority.

After becoming engaged to Rossetti, Siddal began to study with him. In contrast to Rossetti's idealized paintings, Siddal's were harsh. Rossetti drew countless sketches and painted and repainted her. His depictions show a beauty. Her self-portrait shows much about the subject, but certainly not the floating beauty that Rossetti painted and is historically significant because it shows, through her own eyes, a beauty who was idealized by so many famous artists. In 1855, art critic John Ruskin began to subsidize her career and paid £150 per year in exchange for all the drawings and paintings she produced. She produced many sketches but only a single painting. Her sketches are laid out in a fashion similar to Pre-Rapaelite compositions illustrating Arthurian legend and other idealized medieval themes. Ruskin admonished Rossetti in his letters for not marrying Siddal and giving her security. During this period Siddal began to write poetry, often with dark themes about lost love or the impossibility of true love. "Her verses were as simple and moving as ancient ballads; her drawings were as genuine in their medieval spirit as much more highly finished and competent works of Pre-Raphaelite art," wrote critic William Gaunt in The Pre-Raphaelite Dream.

Rossetti represented Lizzie Siddal as Dante's Beatrice in one of his most famous works, Beata Beatrix, (1864–1870) which he painted as a memorial after her death. The piece mimicked the death of Dante's love in his autobiographical work, Vita Nuova. In it, amidst a yellow haze of relatively indistinct shapes, including the Ponte Vecchio in Florence and figures of Dante and Love, Siddal sits, representing Dante's Beatrice. With an upturned chin and closed eyes, she appears keenly aware of her impending fate—death. A bird, which serves as the messenger of death, places a poppy in her hands. Critics have praised the piece for its emotional resonance, which can be felt simply through the work's moving colouring and composition. The true history of Rossetti and his beloved wife further deepens its meaning; although their love had waned at that point, Siddal still exerted a powerful influence on the artist.

Perhaps Rossetti's most abundant and personal works were pencil sketches of Siddal at home. He began them in 1852, when he moved into Chatham Place with her and they became increasingly anti-social, absorbed in each other's affections. The lovers coined affectionate nicknames for one another, which included "Guggums" or "Gug" and "Dove" - one of Rossetti's names for Siddal. Rossetti taught her to paint and write. Although she produced mediocre work, due to his complete adoration of her, Rossetti labeled her a creative genius. Rossetti manifested this same idealization of Siddal in his sketches (most of which he entitled simply, "Elizabeth Siddal"), in which he portrayed her as a woman of leisure, class, and beauty, often situated in comfortable settings.

In both his art and writings, Rossetti exalted Lizzie Siddal. His period of great poetic production began when he met her and ended around the time of her death. (Douchy, 155) His poem, "A Last Confession," exemplifies his love for Siddal, whom he personifies as the heroine with eyes, "as of the sea and sky on a grey day." In this piece, a man's affections for a young girl progress from parental to romantic as the girl ages.

Elizabeth Siddal's prominence in Rossetti's works decreased as their love faded and she became increasingly ill. As Beata Beatrix shows, however, Rossetti never forgot his love for his wife, even after her death. Another famous work he produced toward the end of their marriage was his Regina Cordium or The Queen of Hearts (1860). Painted as a marriage portrait, this painting shows a close-up, vibrantly coloured depiction of Siddal. Her shiny, golden hair complements the light orange hue of her heart necklace, and, with an upturned chin, she embodies the regal air implied by the title. Such flattering portraits truly reflected Rossetti's undying affection for his wife.