Lizzie siddal biography definition

Biography

Elizabeth Siddal was a central figure in Rossetti's life, from their meeting some time in 1849 to his own death. Under his influence she produced Pre-Raphaelite watercolours and drawings of a remarkable naive intensity.

She worked as a milliner's assistant near Leicester Square in London before being asked by Walter Howell Deverell to model for Viola in his 'Twelfth Night' (1850, Forbes, Magazine Collection, London & New York).

She was tall and striking looking, with a pale skin and coppery-red hair, and was asked to sit for other Pre-Raphaelite paintings including William Holman Hunt's 'Converted British Family Sheltering a Christian Missionary' (Royal Academy 1850, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) and Millais's 'Ophelia' (Royal Academy 1852, Tate Gallery, London.) She posed for this in winter in a bath of inadequately heated water, and the severe cold she caught is the first we hear of the ill health that would plague her for the rest of her life.

After 'Ophelia' she s