Rossetti Sitting for Elizabeth Siddal, 1853

Rossetti Sitting for Elizabeth Siddal 1853 by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Lithograph

This lithograph based on Rossetti’s original drawing shows Elizabeth Siddal in Rossetti's studio at 14 Chatham Place, Blackfriars, London. She is drawing Rossetti’s portrait by lamplight but no drawing of him by her actually survives. Although the original drawing was sketched swiftly on a piece of writing paper Rossetti deftly captures the intensity of their relationship.

Rossetti, and his fellow Pre-Raphaelites, preferred to use family and friends rather than professional models. Women Rossetti had relationships with frequently appear in his art. Siddal was a respectable middle class girl discovered in the street by the Pre-Raphaelites. Rossetti regarded her as his ideal feminine beauty and was obsessed with drawing her during the 1850s.

Under his encouragement Siddal became an artist. Although their relationship became less close Rossetti married Siddal in 1860. But she was already seriously ill and gave birth to a stillborn child the following year. She died from an overdose in 1862 at the age of just 32.