![]() ![]() Apparently not meant to be published, about fifteen poems and fragments have been recovered: Many of these pieces have survived in the form of photographic portfolios compiled by Siddal’s husband after her death. Despite few years of practice, she crafted a significant body of work: nowadays, a hundred or so paintings, drawings and sketches are spread across various British and American collections, public or private. While Rossetti promoted her “ power of designing (and) fecundity of invention” her patron John Ruskin ranked her amongst “ geniuses” like Turner. However, she was already acknowledged as “ a real artist” by peers during her lifetime. ![]() ![]() Indeed, she became the first Pre-Raphaelite “stunner” by crafting the iconic look of the fair medieval maiden: Remembered through visual and textual depictions, the conflation of her image as a tragic muse has overshadowed her creative output. Pictures of her evoke a certain type of beauty, characterised by pale complexion, heavy-lidded eyes and abundant red hair. Elizabeth Siddal’s brief but nonetheless spectacular biography reads likes sensation fiction. “ Art was the only thing for which she felt very seriously” wrote Dante Gabriel Rossetti to poet Algernon Swinburne about his deceased wife. Watercolour on paper, 13.7 x 13.7 cm, Tate Britain, London ![]() Lady Affixing a Pennant to a Knight’s Spear, 1856 ![]()
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