Elizabeth Siddal’s Legacy

by Stephanie Chatfield

Claiming Her Own Voice

As artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s muse, we can see her influence on his early Pre-Raphaelite works. She then stepped boldly into her own work, starting a career that was brief but full of promise.

Unfortunately, many of the dramatic details of her life overshadow her artistic ambitions. Yet she still motivates us, as a 19th century woman strong enough to shape her own place in a restrictive world.

Sadly, Lizzie also represents what happens when circumstance and tragedy conspire to prevent that work from coming to fruition.

In The Legend of Elizabeth Siddal, Jan Marsh says “in writing about Elizabeth Siddal, women are painting collective self-portraits.” This resonates with me deeply.

No matter how much we learn about and discuss her, she remains somehow unreachable, suspended in an enigmatic mist. I think we project our own needs onto her. She becomes a symbol of ourselves, perhaps the part of us we want to rescue.

What She Means to Women Today

When we champion Elizabeth Siddal, we as women are cheerleaders for our own creative endeavors. We wage, as she was ill-equipped to do, battles against obstacles like depression and addiction.

Pursuing her has brought a wealth of gifts to my life, including love and friendships that I treasure dearly. Studying her has been a labor of love, and has rewarded me in ways I will always be grateful for.

For that, Lizzie Siddal deserves a sincere thank you. And it is a thank-you whispered in my heart with a combination of respect and joy.

Thank you, Lizzie.

To read further about Elizabeth Siddal’s legacy:

Did Elizabeth Siddal Inspire Bram Stoker?

Elizabeth Siddal and Sylvia Plath: Tragic Loss Separated by a Century

Framing Siddal: How We See Her and Why It Matters.

The Legacy of Millais’ Ophelia

More about Elizabeth Siddal

• About Guggums.com
• Artful Curiosity on Every Page
• Elizabeth Siddal FAQs
• Elizabeth Siddal: Pre-Raphaelite Artist, Poet, and Muse
  • Elizabeth Siddal’s Death and Exhumation
    • Hall Caine on Elizabeth Siddal’s Exhumation
    • Inquest into the death of Elizabeth Siddal Rossetti
    • The Worst Man in London: Charles Augustus Howell and Lizzie Siddal’s Exhumation
    • What is Laudanum?
  • Elizabeth Siddal’s Legacy
    • Did Elizabeth Siddal inspire Bram Stoker?
    • Elizabeth Siddal and Sylvia Plath: tragic loss separated by a century
    • Framing Elizabeth Siddal: How We See Her and Why It Matters
  • Elizabeth Siddal’s Work
    • A Silent Wood
    • A Year and a Day
    • At Last
    • Dead Love
    • Early Death
    • Fragment of a Ballad
    • Gone
    • He and She and Angels Three
    • Lord May I Come?
    • Love and Hate
    • Shepherd Turned Sailor
    • The Lust of the Eyes
    • The Many Faces of Elizabeth Siddal
    • The Passing of Love
    • True Love
    • Worn Out
  • Life of Elizabeth Siddal
    • Drawn Together: Elizabeth Siddal and Dante Gabriel Rossetti
      • Artist Arthur Hughes shares an anecdote of the Rossettis honeymoon
      • Rossetti’s Letter to Allingham: Marriage of Siddal and Rossetti
      • Rossetti’s letter to William Allingham: Ruskin’s Patronage of Miss Siddal
    • Georgiana Burne-Jones writes about her friendship with Elizabeth Siddal
    • Letters written by Elizabeth Siddal
    • Poet William Bell Scott recalls Elizabeth Siddal
    • The Murderer in Lizzie Siddal’s Childhood
    • William Holman Hunt on Elizabeth Siddal’s discovery
• Exploring Millais’ Ophelia
  • “Miss Siddal had a trying experience”
  • Anne Thackeray Ritchie on Millais’ Ophelia
  • Artist Arthur Hughes on Millais’ Ophelia
  • Elizabeth Siddal and Ophelia: The Merging of Muse and Myth
  • Flowers in Ophelia: Millais’ Letter to Mrs. Combe
  • Millais: The Beginning of Ophelia
  • Ophelia in Hamlet: Literary Background
  • Some Notes on Millais As a Painter of Landscape
  • The Legacy of Millais’ Ophelia
• Index of Pages
• Journal
• Newsletter
• Ophelia as a Symbol of Emotional Depth in the 21st Century
• Ophelia in Culture: A Guide to Her Artistic, Literary, and Cultural Afterlives
• Pre-Raphaelite Adventures
  • A Pre-Raphaelite Look at Hitchcock’s Vertigo
  • Balancing on the Bridge
  • Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Home
  • From Tennyson to TikTok: Are We All Living the Lady of Shalott’s Curse?
  • On Storms
  • Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens
  • Pre-Raphaelite Princess of Star Wars
  • Seeing The Beatles through Paul McCartney’s Lens
  • St. Pancras Old Church Gardens
  • The Magic Down the Rabbit Hole
  • The Wounded Dove
  • Unconventional Beauty
  • Visiting Lizzie Siddal at Highgate Cemetery
    • Highgate Cemetery Image Gallery
  • Westminster Abbey
  • What Grows from Grief
• Privacy Policy
• The Ophelia Aesthetic: Why She Haunts Us
• The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood Overview
  • Origins of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
    • Birth of the Brotherhood
    • Dante Gabriel Rossetti: The Romantic Rebel of the Pre-Raphaelites
      • La Vita Nuova: Dante Alighieri’s influence on Rossetti
      • Rethinking Rossetti
      • The Girlhood of Mary Virgin
      • The Women Behind Rossetti’s Paintings: A Brief Introduction to His Most Frequent Muses
    • John Everett Millais: The Prodigy Who Painted Emotion
    • Pre-Raphaelite FAQs
    • Pre-Raphaelite List of Immortals
    • Pre-Raphaelite Luminosity
    • Pre-Raphaelite Women
      • Alexa Wilding
      • Annie Miller
      • Christina Rossetti
      • Effie Gray Millais
      • Emma Madox Brown
      • Evelyn De Morgan
      • Fanny Cornforth
      • Georgiana Burne-Jones
      • Jane Burden Morris
      • Joana Boyce
      • Maria Zambaco
      • Marie Spartali Stillman
    • The Diaries of William Allingham
    • What is the ‘Pre-Raphaelite Woman?’
    • William Holman Hunt: The Visionary of Pre-Raphaelite Symbolism
• The Pre-Raphaelite Spell: Why I’m Still Here
• Welcome to the Glorious Guggums Newsletter!
• Why Ophelia Captivated the Pre-Raphaelites