aniksar: artisticinsight: artisticinsight: Detail of Ophelia, 1851, by John Everett Millais (1829-18
aniksar: artisticinsight: artisticinsight: Detail of Ophelia, 1851, by John Everett Millais (1829-1896). Yes the painting has quite the history behind it! While posing for the work, Elizabeth lay floating in a bath of water, with oil lamps underneath the bath for some heating. However, Rossetti was too focused on his work to notice that the oil lamps had gone out, and Siddal never complained about the water getting colder and colder. She got very ill from this incident and a doctor had to be called on multiple occasions, which Siddal’s father forced Rossetti to pay for. I touched on her illness briefly in my short post on her, although we don’t absolutely know the exact reason behind her illness, the issues in their marriage would have certainly exacerbated her ill health at the very least. We can clearly see from her poems how Elizabeth struggled with depression, her failing health, and the tragedy within her life. She was considered by many as just a pretty face past her “prime” and therefore her accomplishments often went unnoticed. She was acutely aware of this, and it more than likely did contribute to her early death, as she struggled with a laudanum addiction as well as losing a child. She is now getting more and more recognition in her own right within art and poetry, rather than her status as a muse. You can read some of her poetry here. It gives a powerful insight into how she felt. Motherfucker was too busy painting noticing she’s freezing to death…?!?! tbf it was John Everett Millais who was the painter who didn’t notice -- source link