LizzieSiddal.com Blog

Lizzie Siddal on Jeopardy!

Posted on 9 October 2009 | 1 response

I just discovered via our LizzieSiddal.com Facebook page that Lizzie Siddal was recently on answer on the popular gameshow Jeopardy!

Here’s a link to the clue archives. Scroll down a bit on the page, Lizzie appears during the Double Jeopardy round under the category The Victorians. The clue was: “Prominent feature of women in pre-Raphaelite paintings; model Lizzie Siddal’s was said to have filled her coffin”

I love seeing Lizzie mentioned in our popular culture!

Elizabeth Siddal/Amy Manson Portrait

Posted on 1 September 2009 | 2 responses

Tribute to Lizzie Siddal and Amy Manson

I was thrilled when Marilyn Mallia shared this beautiful portrait that she painted as a tribute to Lizzie Siddal and the actress who recently portrayed her, Amy Manson. Marilyn shared it via the LizzieSiddal.com Facebook Fan page, which is one of the reasons I enjoy sharing this website through other social media outlets. It provides a good chance to connect with those who have similar interests and enjoy Pre-Raphaelite art.

Lizzie as an artist:

Posted on 31 August 2009 | No responses

This episode of The Pre-Raphaelites documentary begins to discuss Lizzie as an artist around the 6:54 mark:

The Pre-Raphaelites Video: Lizzie Siddal as Ophelia

Posted on 31 August 2009 | 1 response

Millais was one of the first artists to portray Ophelia in the process of drowning. Couple this bold move with his Pre-Raphaelite dedication to “truth to nature” and you have a stunning, accurate painting. The video below ilustrates and explains how Millais painted Ophelia and Lizzie’s experience modeling:

A look at Pippa Passes

Posted on 25 August 2009 | No responses

The latest post at Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood discusses Lizzie’s illustration of Robert Browning’s poem, Pippa Passes.

The White Rose and the Red

Posted on 8 August 2009 | No responses

I was thrilled to find this wonderful news in my inbox tonight: Hilda Doolittle’s (H.D.) fictional biography of Lizzie Siddal will be published for the first time! I don’t see a release date on Amazon, but you can pre-order the book. Just a warning: it’s a bit pricey! White Rose and the Red at Amazon

Never before published, “White Rose and the Red” is the fictional biography of Elizabeth Siddall, wife of English poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti. This extraordinary novel explores the charged interpersonal relationships between and among Siddall, Rossetti, and other key members of the pre-Raphaelite movement, including William Morris and John Ruskin. During H.D.’s lifetime, publishers shied away from the novel’s radically unconventional hybrid form that combines elements of historical nonfiction, fiction, and biography. As part of the dense and allusive prose trilogy written during and after World War II (along with “The Sword Went Out to Sea” and “The Mystery”), “White Rose and the Red” exemplifies the mythic theme that H.D. saw as unifying all her writing. It also examines how Siddall – a controversial muse and model – came to become the iconic figure of an artistic movement

Lizzie posing as Ophelia in Desperate Romantics

Posted on 4 August 2009 | No responses

The second episode of Desperate Romantics is on YouTube. Here we see a reenactment of Lizzie posing in what is perhaps the most famous image of her: Ophelia, painted by Sir John Everett Millais. I’ve included a video clip (hopefully, it is visible to those of you who receive these posts via a reader). Lizzie’s posing begins at about the 5:30 mark. Also, there is a good overview of this episode at The Beautiful Necessity.

Happy Birthday!

Posted on 25 July 2009 | 1 response

siddal-photo On this day in 1829, Elizabeth Siddal was born!

Portrayals of Elizabeth Siddal

Posted on 24 July 2009 | 3 responses

I have only seen snippets of Desperate Romantics, so I can’t really speak about the miniseries as a whole. I am aware of the historical inaccuracies and I do question some of the changes made. But from what I’ve seen, Amy Manson portrays Lizzie as likable and spirited. I’ve enjoyed seeing Lizzie portrayed with personality and not as a demure waif who sits quietly n Rossetti’s shadow.

Since Desperate Romantics began I have seen a definite rise in traffic. I thought that both new and returning readers would like a glimpse of other portrayals of Elizabeth Siddal. Below, via YouTube, is a clip from Dante’s Inferno, directed by Ken Russell: