In the world of art, there are often stories that are fascinating not only for their content, but also for their main characters. One of the most beautiful and touching love stories in the world of painting unfolded between the outstanding Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his muse, Elizabeth Siddal. Their relationship and love, captured on canvas and paper, remain inspiring and mysterious for many art fans. Let's plunge into this amazing story, revealing secrets and mysteries through their works and life path.
A love story in colors: Dante Rossetti and Elizabeth Siddal
“Love is eternal, like the sky, but its manifestations are temporary, like clouds.” - Vincent van Gogh
Poor Lizzie, wrapped in the shroud of illness, yet adorned with the cloak of selflessness and breathtaking beauty. The saga of love between the poet and artist Elizabeth Siddal and her counterpart, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, is a tapestry woven with threads of reality and fiction, spun by their own hands, by the tales of friends, and the strokes of biographers' pens. But where does Rossetti's artistic portrayal of Elizabeth dissolve into the essence of the woman herself? Is she merely the muse, a delicate victim of circumstance, or does she emerge as the vibrant, quick-witted being who captivated Rossetti's heart and mind?
In the labyrinth of their story, truth intertwines with perception, blurring the lines between myth and reality. Was Elizabeth truly frail and passionate, or was she, as whispers among their circle suggest, a woman of remarkable intellect and wit, her physical ailments overshadowed by the weight of her relentless mental pursuits? With each attempt to unravel the enigma of Lizzie, more questions unfurl, each more tantalizing than the last.
Was she a rose, wilting under the weight of love and longing, or a phoenix, rising from the ashes of societal expectations to claim her own narrative? The mystery of Elizabeth Siddal beckons, inviting us to delve deeper into the labyrinth of her existence, where every answer gives rise to yet another captivating question.
What were they like?
Once upon a time, in the bustling streets of artistic fervor, a chance encounter sparked a flame that would illuminate the lives of two young souls. It was a day like any other when Walter Deverell, accompanied by his mother, stumbled upon a quaint hat shop. Little did he know that within those humble walls, destiny awaited in the form of a fiery-haired seamstress named Elizabeth Siddal.
Merely twenty years of age, Elizabeth stood as a beacon of ethereal beauty, her presence casting a spell upon all who beheld her. For Rossetti, a mere 21 springs adorned his existence, fate intervened through the whims of his friend Deverell. With a proclamation fueled by serendipity, Deverell declared he had unearthed the quintessential muse, igniting the artistic fervor within Rossetti's soul.
Three fleeting years danced by before their lives intertwined in a symphony of passion and creation. Elizabeth bid adieu to the mundane world of needle and thread, surrendering herself wholly to the realm of artistry as Rossetti's exclusive muse. In turn, Rossetti, consumed by an insatiable desire to capture her essence upon canvas, embarked on a journey where each stroke of his brush whispered her name.
In the quiet hours of night, when the world slumbered and dreams took flight, Rossetti would unveil his innermost thoughts to his confidant Ford Madox Brown. Leafing through a trove of sketches spanning six years, Brown beheld the manifestation of Rossetti's obsession, a collection teeming with life and fervor. Yet, beneath the surface of artistic brilliance, a shadow loomed—a monomania that gripped Rossetti's being, driving him ever deeper into the abyss of his artistic pursuit.
Thus, amid the whispers of muses and the strokes of brushes, the tale of Rossetti and Elizabeth unfolded—a saga woven with threads of passion, obsession, and unyielding devotion. And within the folds of their story, lies a tapestry of wonder and intrigue, beckoning those who dare to venture into the realm where art and life intertwine.
In the whimsical realm of artistic devotion, Gabriel's endearing nickname "Guggams" became synonymous with the radiant presence of Elizabeth Siddal. But as Gabriel's infatuation swelled to staggering heights, it transcended mere endearment, spiraling into a consuming obsession. Every stroke of his brush, every pause in his work, revolved around Elizabeth—his muse, his lover, his muse again.
With each passing day, Gabriel's artistic fervor soared to dizzying heights. Only in the presence of Elizabeth did his creations find life, their souls intertwined in a dance of inspiration and passion. From the tranquil slumber to the pensive gaze, from the intricate braids to the flutter of pages, Gabriel immortalized every facet of Elizabeth's being upon his canvases.
No longer just a model, Elizabeth emerged as a pupil of Rossetti, her keen intellect and innate talent blossoming under his tutelage. Yet, before this whirlwind romance, Elizabeth graced the works of other masters—posing for Millais's haunting Ophelia, Deverell's enchanting Twelfth Night, and Hunt's captivating Sylvia. But in Gabriel's eyes, she was no longer a mere subject to be shared; she was his muse, his muse alone.
Bound by love and artistry, Gabriel lavished Elizabeth with adoration, introducing her to the luminaries of the art world. With grace and poise, Elizabeth navigated these social gatherings, her presence leaving an indelible impression on all who beheld her. "She possesses the grace and charm of a countess," declared John Ruskin's father, his words echoing the sentiment shared by all who crossed paths with the captivating Elizabeth Siddal.
Ruskin himself once dropped in to visit Rossetti - but decided to buy not Gabriel’s work, but everything, absolutely everything that Lizzie created. Embarrassed, Rossetti set a price of 25 pounds for each drawing; Ruskin paid 30 and awarded the girl a scholarship. 150 pounds a month for all the works she created - and a fee for all the drawings and paintings that he managed to sell.
Elizabeth was the daughter of a small merchant, she had four brothers and sisters, her parents taught her to write and read, until the age of 23 she made hats and avidly read Tennyson. Her red hair, gray eyes and slender figure would be enough to become the most sought-after model for young reform artists. Taking up her brush, she worked at the limit of her strength, obsessively and enthusiastically. Taking up the pen, she wrote poetry, from which the poet Swinburne was delighted: “a brilliant combination of intelligence, humor, character portrayal and dramatic poetry.” It is not surprising that frantic creativity, a completely new element for Elizabeth, took a lot of strength, mental and physical. “Poor dear Lizzie” is constantly ill, no matter who Rossetti writes about her. “She seems ready to die every day, several times a day.” But one of the doctors, invited to the exhausted Siddal’s bedside, issues a conclusion: her lungs are only slightly affected by the disease, the real cause of weakness is too intense mental activity.
So what was she sick with?
In fact, medicine in Victorian England was, to put it mildly, imperfect. Ideas about female anatomy, psyche and specific methods of treatment in general can be written down in terms of shamanism. The most common female diseases were hysteria and neurasthenia, which, of course, were associated with sexual characteristics, or rather, imperfections. If a woman, with her sensitive psyche and undeveloped brain, is engaged in writing and painting, this is already half the diagnosis. If she experiences sexual desires, this is the second half of the diagnosis.
An attempt to collect Elizabeth's symptoms leads to approximately the following picture: an incomprehensible lung disease (complicated by a serious cold after posing in a cold bath for Millet's Ophelia), curvature of the spine and neuralgic pains, opium tincture as a cure for pain, progressive dependence on opium (with standard a dose of 25 drops by the end of her life she was already taking up to 100), a serious eating disorder. Well, she definitely wrote poetry and paintings, and also lived with a young man who was in no hurry to marry her - the diagnosis is ready. From all this, Elizabeth Siddal received a universal recommendation: peace and a change of climate.
By the end of the 1850s, Elizabeth spent most of the year in resort towns and sanatoriums, with Gabriel joining her only occasionally. These long trips helped Rossetti and his beloved to get rid of a long-standing illness - the same monomania that his friends were warily talking about. Now he learned to paint other women - and his long-term folder with “Guggams” began to look more diverse: portraits of Jane Burden (the future wife of William Morris and Rossetti’s mistress), Fanny Cornforth (Rossetti’s mistress), Annie Miller (Holman Hunt’s lover and, most likely , Rossetti's episodic mistress). And amazingly, the artist is able to create a completely different type of woman in painting: strong, integral, powerful and seductive at the same time. The portrait of Fanny Cornforth "Bocca Baciata" is the first in this series. You can't say "poor darling" about any of these women.
Contemporary British art critics, who are beginning to look more closely into the past in search of undervalued women artists, argue that the image of “poor sick Lizzie” was a romantic invention of Rossetti - the artistic food that fed his imagination, his own dream of the unattainable Beatrice. But the real Elizabeth Siddal must be found not in his sympathetic letters to friends and family, detailing her deteriorating health, but, for example, in her letters.
Every friend who spoke about Elizabeth mentioned her captivating personality and brilliant wit. For example, she sent this letter to Gabriel from Nice, where she had gone to breathe the sea air and bask in the sun in the midst of the English winter of 1855:
“Once you land in Nice, your passport is collected and stored at the police station until you sail. If you were sent a letter with a money order, then it remains at the post office, and the postmaster writes you another letter, instructing you to come to him with a passport for identification. To do this, you go to the police station and beg them to give out your document for half an hour, and before they hand you your passport, you will feel like a notorious criminal. Looking very much like a self-propelled machine, you rush into the post office to find yourself in front of a barred window through which the clerk behind him looks exactly like an overcooked chop on the grill, stuck to the grate. When you say that you have come for a letter with money, Chop immediately understands that he is dealing with a murderer, and therefore decides that he will not let you out of here alive; and, treating you like Cain and Alice Gray in one guise, demands to see your passport. Having carefully examined the document and your face (which by this point turns crimson, which is immediately perceived as evidence of guilt), the employee pushes a barn book through the bars, where you must sign your death warrant, scrawling something completely inconsistent with your handwriting in the passport . Meanwhile, the Chop takes the form of your doom in the form of overcooked lamb, sizzling something in French that Alice Gray can't understand a word of. And finally, the reward for all your suffering comes. It dawns on Lamb Chop that no one else living on a grand scale could have such disgusting handwriting as is found in both the passport and the barn book; so they take me for Alice, but give me money and ask if I will be pardoned for being too thin the next time I get caught. When you go to the police station to return your passport, they look at you through the wooden bars with undisguised surprise - after all, you are not in the company of a couple of officers in cocked hats, and your fainting appearance suggests that you are clearly involved in something. They are forced to be satisfied that in a couple of days they will definitely have a job..."
Elizabeth's sense of humor and brilliant mind certainly shed light on Elizabeth's personality, and the poems and paintings she wrote could have been the start of a serious career had she lived a little longer. But all this does not mean, of course, that she was healthy. In one of the resort towns, 30-year-old Siddal felt very bad - and only then, after 10 years of marriage, Rossetti decided to marry her.
Paintings of Passion: Dante Rossetti and Elizabeth Siddal in the History of Art
“I am faithful to you in my soul. I cannot live without you, my kind, great, dear, beautiful woman.” - Frida Kahlo
Rossetti painted a peculiar piece during his honeymoon in Paris, titled "How They Met Themselves." Originally, the plan was for the newlyweds, accompanied by Edward and Georgiana Burne-Jones, also newly married, to embark on this journey together. However, Burne-Jones fell ill shortly after the wedding, prompting the Rossetti couple to travel alone. Modern journalists often smirk at the unconventional choice of painting for a honeymoon, speculating that it reflects a sense of foreboding, given the somber undertones of the depicted scene. In the painting, a couple stumbles upon their exact doubles in a mystical forest setting, with eerie glows surrounding them. The girl resembling Lizzie faints, while the young man resembling Gabriel grows pale, struggling to support his companion. Encountering one's double traditionally signifies ill omens, a harbinger of impending death—a motif reminiscent of grim fairy tales.
Interestingly, Elizabeth had been a frequent model for depictions of death for a decade, portraying the early deceased Beatrice from Dante Alighieri's works. Both Rossetti and Elizabeth had penned numerous poems exploring themes of love and mortality.
Contrary to the morbid interpretation, surviving letters suggest that the Rossetti couple, if yearning for anything, missed the lively social gatherings of London rather than harboring any sense of impending doom. Georgiana Burne-Jones Rossetti mentions their shared reading of Samuel Johnson's biography and hints at the possibility of returning from Paris with two dogs—a large one and a small one. Far from foreboding, their plans of reading together and selecting pets paint a painting of domestic contentment and companionship.
Following the wedding, Elizabeth's health notably improved, with her illness abating. It appeared that a period of happiness, shared travels, mutual trust, professional success, and recognition lay ahead for the couple. Their bond was deeply rooted, forged over time.
However, Rossetti's blissful family life was shattered when Elizabeth became pregnant but tragically lost the child. Despite speculation about her health, whether related to tuberculosis or other lung conditions, the reality of several years of opium tincture use and severe eating difficulties remained. Unfortunately, drug dependency, neuralgia, insomnia, and persistent nausea and vomiting, likely compounded by anorexia, painted a challenging medical history for Elizabeth, especially during pregnancy. The birth resulted in a stillborn baby girl. This loss occurred simultaneously with the births of children to the Morris and Burne-Jones families, leading many to believe that since three families anticipated children simultaneously, all would be well—a sentiment tragically proven false.
Overdose or suicide?
One day, the Burne-Joneses, elated new parents, paid a visit to Rossetti's home, only to find Elizabeth beside an empty cradle, gently rocking it as though cradling an invisible infant. Turning to her guests, she whispered, "Hush, you'll wake him up." Consumed by inconsolable grief, she turned to laudanum for solace, increasing her dosage.
Elizabeth, beloved by all, evoked sympathy from those who witnessed her sorrow. While little documentation exists detailing how Rossetti coped with the stillbirth, one poignant account survives through Georgiana Burne-Jones's memoir. She recounts a letter received from Gabriel during his darkest moments: "Lizzie expressed a desire to share part of her childhood wardrobe with you. Please, don't allow her to do so. It would bring us such ill fortune."
Following the tragic stillbirth, Elizabeth's recovery began, and she gradually ventured out of the house. In February 1862, the Rossettis dined with the young poet Algernon Swinburne, who, at just 24 years old, admired Elizabeth's wit, incomparable grace, courage, heroism, and beauty. After escorting his wife home, Rossetti left to teach at the Workers' College, returning three hours later to a distressing scene: an empty laudanum bottle beside the bed, and Elizabeth unconscious. Despite the efforts of four doctors who worked tirelessly through the night to revive her, Elizabeth Siddal passed away by morning at the tender age of 32.
So where did he get the idea to get these verses from the coffin 8 years later?
The years following Elizabeth's passing proved challenging for Rossetti, though one might find it hard to believe considering his lifestyle. His first action was to secure a new residence on Cheyne Walk in Chelsea. During this time, Gabriel emerged as a prominent figure, attracting young poets and artists to his orbit. In his newfound bohemian haven, whiskey flowed freely, and conversations stretched into the late hours of the night. Visitors such as Hunt, Swinburne, Morris, Whistler, and Tennyson frequented Rossetti's abode.
In the backyard, he cultivated an exotic menagerie comprising marmots, kangaroos, raccoons, salamanders, deer, parrots, wombats, and peacocks. According to Philip Hook, author of "Breakfast at Sotheby's," Rossetti's personal zoo even influenced the terms of rental housing in Chelsea. The incessant noise from the peacocks prompted the Kadogen Estate, which now owned a significant portion of Chelsea's properties, to ban their presence, enshrining this prohibition in all lease agreements.
However, amidst the menagerie and nightly gatherings, Rossetti grappled with chronic insomnia and nervous breakdowns. He dedicated six years to crafting the painting "Blessed Beatrice," pieced together from hundreds of sketches of Lizzie. Rarely venturing outside, he entertained art dealers in his studio, including the charming yet dubious Charles Augustus Howell. Howell, a devilishly charismatic businessman with a questionable reputation, sought the company of prominent figures in the art world, captivating buyers with his wit and captivating tales. While some hailed him as London's most charming and adept art dealer, others branded him as a despicable swindler capable of deplorable acts.
Howell orchestrated a tea gathering for Burne-Jones's wife and mistress, inducing a faint from the artist upon discovering them together. He peddled counterfeit Rossetti paintings painted skillfully by his girlfriend. Rumors circulated that, as John Ruskin's secretary, he embezzled funds without remorse. Howell was also reputed to purchase scandalous letters, compiling them into albums for pawn, then remorsefully returning to extort money from the victims under the guise of redemption, as depicted by Conan Doyle in "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton."
Notorious for his slippery dealings, Howell undertook the dubious task of extracting manuscripts from Elizabeth Siddal's coffin, purportedly persuading Rossetti to agree to this controversial act. Upon opening the grave and retrieving the notebook of poems, Howell reported to Rossetti that Elisabetta's body, unchanged after eight years underground, remained as beautiful as ever, with her coffin brimming with her remarkable hair.
Howell's involvement beyond his direct excavation efforts remains challenging to substantiate. The collection of poems by Dante Gabriel Rossetti salvaged from his wife's coffin faced relentless criticism, earning the derisive moniker "carnal school of poetry." By this juncture, Rossetti had ascended to recognition and wealth as an artist. Engaged in a prolonged affair with Jane Morris, the wife of a close friend, he grappled with drug addiction and consumed copious amounts of whiskey, a lifestyle unsustainable for long. With only twelve years remaining, he sporadically bestowed upon brunette models the distinctive red hair reminiscent of his late wife, succumbing occasionally to bouts of melancholy and guilt.
In conclusion, the love story between Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Elizabeth Siddal remains one of the most vivid and moving in the history of art. Their romantic relationship, reflected on canvases and in biographies, attracts attention and inspires new generations of researchers and art lovers.
The tragic outcome of this story, including the death of Elizabeth from an opium overdose and the death of Dante, plunges into deep reflection on the value of passion, art and the human soul. Despite all the difficulties and painful moments, their love and mutual inspiration remain alive in their works and in the hearts of those who are familiar with their story.
The story of Dante Rossetti and Elizabeth Siddal reminds us of the richness of human emotion, the power of art to express our deepest emotions, and how sometimes the most beautiful moments can be steeped in the bitterness of loss. Their story serves as a reminder that true art is not only magnificent and sublime, but also connects to the very essence of the human experience, with all its joys and sorrows.
Our catalog presents paintings of various genres and eras, from classical portraits to modern abstractions. Each painting carries its own unique energy and expresses a variety of ideas and emotions.
We pay special attention to the works of the artist Litvinov, whose paintings are imbued with deep meaning and can inspire the viewer to think. His works are distinguished by their original style and skill, as well as their ability to evoke a wide range of feelings and emotions in the viewer. We are confident that Litvinov’s paintings will not only become a wonderful interior decoration, but also a valuable source of inspiration and inner growth for our clients.