MILAN – “And love destined for an early death / And it is so rarely true. (…) The most beautiful words on the most sincere lips / They flow and soon die, / And you will be alone, my dear, / When the winter winds approach “. The lines of Miss Sid’s “Love Over” seem like a prophecy of what will happen. Both painters and poets, Elizabeth Eleanor Siddal and Gabriel Dante Rossetti are one of the historic maudit love couples. Two kindred souls, a legendary love. The inspiration of the painter who had founded the Pre- Raphaelites and the melancholy beauty of the tragic model with long red hair. A penniless but intriguing genius, a brilliant but fragile woman, who loved and hurt each other in Victorian London.
Veronica Veronese, Dante Gabriel Rossetti THE MUSE – Lizzie, as she loved to be called, did not actually embody the typical Victorian aesthetic ideal but was perfect for the canon of Rossetti and his brotherhood. Delicate, frail and melancholy, she became the eternal Pre-Raphaelite face. It was not easy to model at that time, it was equivalent to being labeled as a bad guy. This is why Siddal quarrels with her family and suffers from Rossetti’s sentimental indecisions. A sometimes anomalous love, initially platonic, cracked by the numerous flirtations of the unfaithful painter that ended up worsening the precarious mental status of the woman. LIZZY – Elizabeth Eleanor Siddalwas born in London on July 25, 1829 into a family of humble origins. When she was discovered by the Pre-Raphaelites she worked as a seamstress. For her I start a new life dedicated to art, she begins to paint and write, as well as being a muse and a model. Miss Sid, physically and psychologically frail, I begin to use laudanum. About her The tragic beauty of her cracked by too much pain: her discomfort with Rossetti’s family who did not accept her and Dante who could not make up her mind to marry her for fear that the situation would get worse. Health problems that worsened after long hours of posing in the water for John Everett Millais’ Ophelia. Lizzie, who fainted from the cold with out candles, was brought back to deathat the home of his father who, enraged, demanded compensation from the painter of 50 pounds. Just then Rossetti realized his love for his “Beatrix”. Instead, the art critic John Ruskin supported them . As a big fan of him he believed that the pupil Lizzie had surpassed the teacher Dante. Ruskin bought the works of the ‘Pre-Raphaelite muse’ par excellence, always encouraging them.
Ophelia, John Everett Millais “LOVE NOT GRANTED” – Lizzie wrote many lyrics dedicated to her difficult relationship with the Italian charming painter: “If the simple dream of a love were true, then, honey, we would be in Heaven. But we are on earth, my dear, where true love is not given “. Lipsticksin response I dedicate fiery and sweet verses to her: “How do I recognize you, born together with my soul…”. THE END – The collapse arrived in 1861: the daughter she was carrying was born dead. A few months later, on February 11, 1862, Lizzie, aged only 32, drank a high dose of laudanum. Rossetti arrived too late, she read the farewell note and destroyed it in order to bury her in consecrated ground.
Beata Beatrix, Dante Gabriele Rossetti ROSSETTI MAUDIT – The controversial story between the two did not end with the death of the Pre-Raphaelite muse. Rossetti continues to paint her as demonstrated by the “Beata Beatrix” where the woman’s face appears mysticallyrelaxed and absorbed. In the painting, a red bird hands her a poppy, a component of the laudanum, while in the background the meeting between Dante Alighieri and Beatrice Portinari, the couple’s “alters” takes place. Saddened by the death of her wife, I try to commit suicide by emulating her with laudanum. Saved by his friends, he died instead in 1882: alone, poor and insane. THE LEGEND – There are many legends that revolve around the figure of Siddal, many books and urban stories would like her to be a creature of the night that frightens those who pass by her grave in the Highgate cemetery. A ghost, a vampire. All from the moment Rossetti reopens his tombto get the notebook with Lizzie’s poems to publish. Years had passed but her face and body were in perfect condition with the long and beautiful tawny hair that had grown over time.
